Word: cancerous
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...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...
...should be noted that the new guidelines apply to women who are at average risk of breast cancer, not to women who are considered high risk, such as those with a genetic or familial history of the disease...
...Cancer doctors are also worried that insurance companies will use the panel's new recommendations as an excuse to stop paying for mammography in younger women. Since 2002, when most professional organizations urged annual mammograms for women between 40 and 49 years old, the breast-cancer mortality rate in that group has steadily dropped, by about 3% a year, owing in large part to enhanced screening; doctors were able to pick up and treat cases of disease earlier...
...continue to advise annual screenings even if patients have to pay for them out of pocket. "That would be a step backward, taking away an option from women and denying them the choice," says Dr. Mary Daly, chairperson of the department of clinical genetics at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia...