New Mammogram Guidelines!?

In very little time, it was all over the news…..The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force,sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality under the Department of Health and Human Services, has released a new recommendation that women should not receive yearly mammograms under the age of 50, if they they have no family history of breast cancer or other specific indicators that make them high risk.
Just when all the middle-aged American women have been so well trained to feel it is our responsibility to ourselves and our families to be screened, we’re being told something different. That maybe all those screenings are creating too much anxiety and costing too much time and money compared to how many lives are saved. The study talks about all those false positives…. those times you get the written notice or the phone call that asks you to come back for a second look… hinting that maybe they missed something. Oh yes, those sleepless night and your pounding heart as you wait in the little cubicle while they look at those second films another time. (Not that the technician is going to tell you anything.)
I’m the queen of false negatives. For two years I was on a six month call back for screening. I’ve had numerous ultra sounds and ultimately the MRI. The good news is that although my mother had breast cancer and lived another 35 years beyond her cancer diagnosis, I have so far managed to dodge the bullet and I am thankful. So thankful that despite all the nail biting I don’t necessarily mind all the testing, when I have so many friends who are breast cancer survivors and another dear friend who never lived to celebrate her 4lst birthday.
So what does this all mean and how should it affect all women? We owe it to ourselves to ask more questions of our physicians and to remain ever vigilant. The study talks about using resources to develop new methods of detection. What is on the horizon? What do our local medical professionals think? Visit WhatsUpMag.com