New Mammogram Update

Federal mammogram recommendations defended.

In an op-ed appearing in the New York Times (12/20, BU5), economics professor Richard H. Thaler wrote that the recent recommendation from a federal advisory panel regarding mammograms has "been called a rash misjudgment and an example of ostrich-like thinking." Thaler argued that this criticism is "unfair," noting that the new report "makes some good arguments," and that "when you add up a decade of false positives, hundreds of these women will have received false alarms -- and about half of these will have received biopsies." He concluded that when it comes to the cost/benefit analysis of conducting breast cancer screenings, "one can make a good case that we don't want the government making these choices," although few people "want those decisions made by private insurance companies, either."
Patients seeking mammogram advice from their physicians. American Medical News (12/21, Moyer) reports that in response to new federal guidelines recommending against annual mammograms for "women age 40 to 49," patients are "going to their doctors with questions and concerns about what to do," but "the discussions mean explaining the recommendations to patients, separating fact from fiction, and determining the best course of action." Len Lichtenfeld, MD, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, noted that although physicians can have such conversations with their patients, "in no way can a physician look at a particular woman with average risk and say, 'You should be screened, or you should not be screened.'"