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...Task force (USPSTF), funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, published its recommendations in Annals of Internal Medicine; its decision was based on an analysis of existing trials that looked at the impact of mammography on breast-cancer deaths. The task force further recommended that women between ages 50 and 74 get screened every two years instead of annually, and that doctors no longer urge women to conduct monthly breast self-exams, since the practice does not appear to significantly reduce the risk of death from breast cancer. (See how to prevent illness at any age...
...part, the American Cancer Society holds firm to its position - recommending yearly mammograms for women beginning at age 40 - adamantly stating that it will not modify its guidelines. "We are not changing current recommendations at this time based on our initial review of the information provided by the task force," says Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the ACS. (See pictures from an X-ray studio...
...where does this division leave American women, who have been instructed for nearly two decades to get yearly mammograms starting at age 40? That depends on whether patients and their doctors prefer their screening guidelines to be conservative or not. Experts say that compared with other cancer groups, the USPSTF has traditionally had the most conservative recommendations on mammography screening. In 2002, relying on much of the same data on which it based its new guidelines, the panel called for breast-cancer screening in women ages 40 to 49 every one or two years, even while other groups, including...
...second data set comes from computer-modeled predictions of breast-cancer incidence and death rates based on various screening scenarios. The models were run by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), who compiled data from six cancer centers around the country, and plugged it into 20 separate age- and time-based screening protocols - from screening women ages 49 to 69 every year and every two years, for example, to screening only women ages 60 to 69 every year and every two years as well. By switching from annual to biennial exams, these women would maintain 85% of the screenings...
Overall, the analysis suggests that mammography reduces the risk of dying from breast cancer 15% among women 39 to 49 years old. But the task force determined that while mammograms certainly reduced risk of death, that reduction was small in this age group in light of the risks associated with the screening. In order to save one life among 40- to 49-year-olds, doctors would have to perform yearly mammograms in 1,904 women over 10 years. Among older women, between ages 50 and 74, one death could be prevented for every 1,339 women screened for 10 years...