Many women are up in arms about recommendations to get mammograms LESS often. Is this solid science—or research run amuk?
November 19, 2009
What’s the Deal with Mammograms?
On Monday, a government panel came out with recommendations on mammograms that flew in the face of conventional wisdom—and generated a tidal wave of protest.
Instead of the annual breast screenings after age 40 promoted by organizations like the American Cancer Society, the Preventive Services Task Force of the Department of Health and Human Services suggested that women with normal breast cancer risk need not bother with testing until they reach 50. For most women aged 50 to 74, the panel recommended mammograms only every other year. And once women reach 75, they could take mammograms permanently off their to-do list. The recommendations were based on statistical analyses of the effectiveness of mammograms in finding cancers that need to be treated.
On television’s The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck called the new guidelines “gender genocide.” Other people charged that the government was trying to ration medical care. The Internet was flooded with postings from alarmed women who felt that annual mammograms had, or could, save their lives.
At MORE.com, for instance, veteran health writer Sheryl Kraft wrote about the mammogram she had at age 34 that spotted what turned out to be intraductal carcinoma, the most common form of non-invasive breast cancer. She writes, “Yesterday’s news on new mammogram recommendations made me scream. You might have heard me from where you were.”
There was a lot of screaming going on--and a lot of listening, too. News source after news source reported that a slew of local and national organizations, including the Federal government (see CNN’s report), announced that they had no intention of changing their recommendations for annual mammograms.
“How should women respond to this news?” asked Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the foundation that brought pink ribbons into the world, on its web site. “Calmly,” it answered. Although the advocacy group is still recommending annual mammograms, Nancy G. Brinker, its founder, told the Washington Post that the government report provides an opportunity to push for research into screening that works better than mammography, especially for younger women. "We need 'tomorrow technology' and we need people to invest in it," she said.
In the meantime, plenty of doctors are telling women, in effect, to ignore the new guidelines.In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, questioned the interpretation the Task Force made of the data on hand. So did three doctors convened by Good Morning America.
Yet all the experts agree on one piece of advice: Before you make or cancel any screening appointments, talk to your doctor about whether or not you should get a mammogram, and how often. In her personal blog, Dr.
