Boobs Change Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines

We have another report out on women and mammograms and of course it contradicts previous studies.

This time the report issued by the United States Preventive Services Task Force says regular mammograms should start at the age of 50, not 40 as they suggested seven years ago, and be repeated every two years after that, not annually.

Mammograms only reduce the breast cancer death rate by 15%. I was amazed at that statistic. You would think with all the hoopla the procedure would be reducing the death rate by at least 90%!

Women I know who developed breast cancer, and all of them before the age of 40, discovered the lump themselves in self-examination, although now the Task Force says that doctors should stop teaching women the procedure. The breast cancer survivors I know who developed the disease early were told by their doctors not to worry about the lumps they found.

There is increasing evidence that mammograms are insufficient by themselves especially for women who are in high risk groups; i.e. have relatives with the disease. For those women, MRIs are indicated.

The American Cancer Society is sticking with the program of beginning mammograms at age 40 and yearly afterwards.

There is talk that the new guidelines are strictly a money-saving measure and will put women's lives in jeopardy. There should be more talk that they may be saving money by halting useless procedures.