- Share This Post
- submit
- 0
-
Sparkle (0)
by Bonnie Reichman, M.D.
(The piece below is second in a series of responses by WVFC's Medical Advisory Board to the new screening guidelines for breast and cervical cancer issued last week. Check back later for word from Dr. Elizabeth Poynor on cervical cancer screening and from Dr. Allen on the cumulative effect of both. -- Ed.)
Breast cancer is every woman’s greatest fear. I don’t know one woman who enjoys getting the “dreaded” mammogram. But the recommended guidelines proposed by the USPSTF have clearly sent out the wrong message.
As a medical oncologist who treats breast cancer and as a woman, I was distressed by the recent recommended screening guidelines by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Early detection remains a woman’s best defense against breast cancer. Although mammography is not perfect, it is the best tool doctors have to screen for breast cancer, and often detects a tumor that is too small to be felt. Sometimes, mammograms may miss a cancer, or suggest that a further testing is necessary and the mammogram turns out to have been an imperfect screening tool.
Despite these imperfections, the best scientific evidence shows that regular mammograms help lower the risk of a woman dying from breast cancer. The task force did acknowledge life-saving benefits of mammography in all women over 40- 49, though the benefit was smaller among younger women, 15 percent, vs 30 percent in women over 50. The benefit for younger women, however, is still real.
