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Experts Hope New Study Ends Debate About Mammograms

  • September 30, 2010
  • Number of views: 2860
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Contact:
Jason Merrill
314-286-0302
[email protected]

ST. LOUIS - For women wondering if they should get a mammogram as a breast cancer screening tool, it’s easy to be confused.

While the American Cancer Society recommends annual mammograms for all women starting at age 40, an already confusing medical debate was heightened when the US Preventive Services Task Force issued recommendations last November that women instead get bi-annual screenings starting at 50. They added there wasn’t proven benefit for women 40-49 to get screened at all.

Experts at the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine hope a new study in the journal Cancer ends the debate. The study found a 26 percent reduction in death rates for women who were screened.

“It validates what we’ve been saying,” says Kate Appleton, MD, radiologist at the Joanne Knight Breast Health Center at Siteman. “Screening women with mammography starting at 40 saves lives and this large study should put an end to any debate with the age for screening.”

The study demonstrated a significant survival for women in their 40s. The study had a large patient group of 7.3 million who had mammograms age 40-49 and 8.8 million people who did not.

Dr. Appleton will talk more about the study at a free event presented by Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, “Confused About New Mammogram Guidelines? You’re Not Alone!” Tuesday, October 5, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center- Staenberg Family Complex, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur.

The goal is to help women understand that mammograms save lives through early detection.

“It’s really common sense,” she says. “The smaller the cancer when we find it, the better the prognosis.

“We can detect cancers on a mammogram that can’t be found on a clinical breast exam or self exam.”

While breast cancer experts recommend annual screening at 40, high risk women may need other options, such as a diagnostic mammogram or a breast MRI. Dr. Appleton encourages high risk women to talk with their physician about those options.

For more information about breast cancer, visit siteman.wustl.edu or call 800-600-3606. To register for the free event “Confused About New Mammogram Guidelines?” call 314-542-WEST.
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