New Mammography Guidelines: A Setback To Breast Cancer Fight?
By: Allison Morrison
Updated: November 17, 2009
Could the fight against breast cancer be facing a setback?
Local doctors are reacting after new mammography guidelines are relased.
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force says that women don't need mammograms in their 40's, instead suggesting women start at age 50.
The reason behind this, they say, is for younger women, mammography has a high rate of false positives, which could, in turn, mean unneccessary biopsies.
The government panel also came out against teaching self-exams.
They say teaching women to do them, has not been shown to decrease cancer deaths, but at least one local doctor disagrees with these findings.
He tells us he won't be following these recommendations.
"I would like to stick with the current guidelines. We've found a lot of cancers. We have a cancer rate pickup here of 32 per 1,000 for diagnostic workups and 2 per 1,000 for screening," University Medical Centers Chief Radiologist, Dr. Quattromani, says.
It's important to note, these new guidelines do not apply to women that are at high risk for breast cancer.
