(KSDK) -- A warning tonight from one of our area''s leading radiologists. She''s worried women may not be getting a mammogram every year after 40.
Dr. Barbara Monsees is the chief of breast imaging at the Siteman Cancer Center. She believes some doctors may still be telling their patients they don''t need annual mammograms until 50.
"They''re not saying don''t come early, they''re just saying we''re not as sure about this one," explains Dr. Monsees.
Dr. Monsees believes that is the wrong advice. She says national medical groups including the American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology, and other groups of surgeons and Ob/Gyn''s back annual mammograms for women starting at 40.
"Women in their 40''s have faster growing tumors and if you wait two years, it''s too long. The cancer will grow at a faster rate and will gain more ground in a two-year period. too long, so we really want annual screenings."
Jane Ellebracht is 46. She faithfully gets mammograms each year around her birthday. She knows how aggressive breast cancer can be in younger women. Her sister, Joan Massey, died of breast cancer a year after being diagnosed at 48.
"We''re very adamant about getting our mammograms done every year. There''s eight girls in our family, and there''s a history of cancer in our family so we watch it," says Ellebracht.
Mammography isn''t perfect. Doctors say it catches about 80 per cent of tumors. But it usually catches them years before they can be felt in a manual exam.
"It''s the gold standard. It is the best, it has the best track record its better than clinical exam. It''s better than breast self-exam," says Monsees.
Dr. Monsees says some doctors may be relying on data from outdated medical studies if they advise women between 40 and 50 they can wait two years between screenings.
"Doctors need to influence women to take care of their health, they need to tell them to stop smoking they need to tell them to control their blood pressure, to take care of themselves in many ways including to come get a mammogram."