Mammogram Recommendations
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By: Cooper Clinic
Cooper Clinic responds to new recommendations on screening mammography by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
On November 17, 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued new recommendations on screening mammography. Click here for the research article released in the Annals of Preventive Medicine.
The task force recommends that women who are considered “low risk for breast cancer” should start screening mammograms at age 50 instead of age 40, and they should be performed every other year instead of annually. The report further recommends that women 75 years of age and older should no longer be screened.
These new recommendations have caused controversy and outrage in the medical community. Cooper Clinic joins the American Cancer Society, American College of Radiology, American Society of Breast Disease, and Mayo Clinic in issuing statements refuting these new recommendations. “This is one screening test I recommend unequivocally, and would recommend to any woman 40 and over,” American Cancer Society’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Otis Brawley stated.
The American College of Radiology said that the new advisory was “unfounded” and the recommendations “ignore the valid scientific data” which could potentially put women at risk. The fact that 70 percent of all women diagnosed with breast cancer have no known risk factors for the disease further supports the importance of continuing annual screening mammography in all women starting at age 40.
Cooper Clinic recommends that all patients consider the risk of a potentially "false positive" mammogram in order to find an early, curable breast cancer. At Cooper Clinic, any additional mammographic views and/or breast ultrasound are performed on the same day as a screening mammogram. Patients leave Cooper Clinic that day with results from their exams without the anxiety of having to wait for the results to come through the mail.
At Cooper Clinic, we also perform digital mammography which has been shown to be more sensitive for detecting breast cancer in women less than 50 years of age and in women with dense breasts in a recent multi-center study. "These well-documented facts are not included in the analyses that led to the change in recommendations," according to Dr. Constance Lehman, medical director of breast imaging at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
The task force is correct to point out the anxiety and potential of surgery for what may have been a "false positive" finding. However, we at Cooper Clinic and the leaders of the organizations cited above strongly believe that the benefits of annual screening mammography starting at age 40 far outweigh the risks of a potentially "false positive" mammogram.
For further reading on this issue, visit Medscape.com: Top Mammography Experts Voice Outrage Over New Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations. Please note, Medscape requires a user account (this is a free service) to view this article.
Michele Kettles, MD, MSPH Jennifer Engels, MD
VP and Medical Director Radiologist
Cooper Clinic Cooper Clinic
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