Mammogram Controversy

Annual mammograms may reduce mastectomy risk for women in their 40s.
The Los Angeles Times (12/3, Forgione) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "For women in their 40s, a new study suggests that annual mammograms may reduce the risk of having a mastectomy." The subject has generated considerable "controversy over the past few years," with the US Preventive Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society making their separate recommendations. This latest recommendation is based on "a British study of 971 women between 40 and 50 years old who had been diagnosed with breast cancer."
Investigators eventually discovered "that among the women who had a mammogram in the preceding year, only 22% needed a mastectomy, compared with 52% who had mammographies done more than a year before," MedPage Today (12/3, Fiore) reported. "Women who'd been screened in the preceding year also had smaller tumors -- 17.8 mm, on average, compared with 24 mm for those who'd had mammography more than a year before and 29 mm for those who'd never had one. They also had less multifocal disease -- 12% versus 36% for those never screened (P=0.003) -- and less high-grade disease (31% versus 46%, P=0.03)."
Anger lingers over mammogram recommendations. CNN (12/3, Landau) reported, "If you're a woman in your 40s, you probably remember how checking the health of your breasts became a point of national contention last year." Many "fought back...when the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommended that women with average breast cancer risk begin biannual mammograms at 50." The "American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology...and other organizations have continued to support women getting yearly mammograms from 40 onward," and recent research "has continued to suggest that women in their 40s need annual mammograms." Although "the situation has calmed down," many remain angry about the revised recommendations.