New Study Supports Mammograms by Age 40
The recently-released findings of a new study will undoubtedly add fuel to an already fired-up debate regarding when women should start undergoing periodic mammograms.
A new study, led by Stamatia Destounis, MD, a radiologist at Elizabeth Wende Breast Care, LLC, in Rochester, New York, determined that screening mammograms are just as likely to find invasive cancers in women who did not have a family history of the disease, as in those who do.
Dr. Destounis and her colleagues conducted a review of the medical records of 1,071 women, aged 40 to 49, who went through screening mammograms at Elizabeth Wende Breast Care between the year 2000 and 2010. Of this population, 373 received breast cancer diagnoses.
Further analysis showed that 61 percent of the women who were diagnosed with breast cancer did not have a family history of the disease, and of this group, 64 percent had invasive breast cancer. On the other hand, of those who were diagnosed with breast cancer and had a family history of the disease, 63 percent had invasive breast cancer.
The debate over when women should start getting screening mammograms stemmed from a recommendation released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in 2009, which recommended routine screenings every other year for women starting at age 50, as opposed to 40. The task force said that over-all, the risks associated with screening mammograms outweigh the benefits that could be derived from the procedure, for women in their 40s. These risks include the possibility of having to undergo unnecessary biopsies.
Tags: age to get mammogram, breast cancer screening, breast cancer test, mammogram by 40
