On Tuesday, the American Cancer Society (ACS) issued new recommendations for when women should start having mammograms.
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Saundra Robinson has tackled more than 20 marathons and 10 half marathons, but her biggest accomplishment has been beating breast cancer. However, she says the guidelines might be too lax for women who fall into a high-risk category.
“Thus, about 85 percent of women in their 40s and 50s who die of breast cancer would have died regardless of mammography screening”, they wrote.
New advice from the cancer society sort of splits the difference. Although the screening can pick up cancer in its earliest stages, the test can also detect abnormal cells and tumors that pose no threat – leading to unnecessary treatment and stress. And Congress regularly passes legislation requiring them to pay for mammograms for women starting at age 40.
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network, an alliance of prominent cancer centers, recommends mammograms every year starting at age 40.
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“It’s scary when you’re waiting to find out the results”, she said. Her mother had breast cancer, so have a few of her congregants and Munroe-Nathans said she has no plans to change course when she gets older. “We recommend a more strenuous course for several reasons”. “It’s not that mammograms are ineffective in younger women”, he said, but at age 40, breast cancer is uncommon and false alarms are more likely. “So we thought that needs to be an informed, shared decision between the woman and her health care provider”, Oeffinger said.
Local oncologists say while they may be confusing for women, new National Cancer Society guidelines on mammograms make sense and will lead to more efficient early screening and more lives saved, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
After reviewing relevant literature on the benefits and harms of breast cancer screenings and questioning how often the screenings should be done, the ACS decided women do not need to have mammograms until they turn 45.
Dr. Margaret Terhar, who has been a breast cancer surgeon for almost 30 years, echoed Enerson’s sentiments.
But even so, she’ll continue to recommend screening at age forty.
The ACS now recommends women 55 and older be screened every other year, but cautions the recommendations are for women who are at “average risk” for cancer.
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Offering more sophisticated screening tests, including genomic risk factors, would be better for younger women than expanded screening mammography, they argued.
