U.S. Urges Women to Get Mammograms at 40

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U.S. Urges Women to Get Mammograms at 40

Thu Feb 21, 4:18 PM ET

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women 40 and older should get a mammogram every

year or two, the U.S. government said on Thursday, weighing in firmly on

the side of screening in a growing debate about whether the tests save

lives.

Although some recent reports have cast doubt on whether mammograms save

lives, the Health and Human Services ( news

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) said they have no doubt that the tests do save lives.

They said the discomfort of the tests, and the risk of getting a scary

false positive, are outweighed by the benefits.

" If you are 40 or older, get screened for breast cancer ( news

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) with mammography every one to two years, " HHS Secretary Tommy

told a news conference.

" The early detection of breast cancer can save lives. "

's urging comes along with new recommendations on breast cancer

screening from HHS, which previously said women over 50 should get

annual mammograms and women should start thinking about it 40 and

perhaps get a " baseline " test to compare later mammograms against.

The NCI has for years been telling women to get annual mammograms

starting at 40.

" While we seek improved methods of diagnosis and treatment of breast

cancer, today mammography remains an important part of our effort to

save lives through early detection, " NCI director Dr. von

Eschenbach said in a statement.

A mammogram is an X-ray in which the breast is pressed between two

plates. Tiny tumors can be detected at the earliest stages and, the hope

is, treated before the cancer spreads.

FEAR OF FALSE POSITIVES

The problem is the procedure is uncomfortable and if something that

looks like a tumor shows up, it must be biopsied -- a tiny piece of

tissue taken out with a needle. This hurts and can frighten patients.

The other criticism is that perhaps some slow-growing cancers that would

not have killed the woman are caught, and the patient undergoes needless

treatment.

The controversy reached a boil back in October, when Danish researchers

published a review of some of the big studies that originally showed

mammograms can save lives. They said the studies may have been flawed.

Dr. Greenwald, head of cancer prevention at NCI, said the Danish

study, published in the Lancet medical journal, was itself flawed.

And on Feb. 1, Henschke and colleagues at Cornell Medical Center

in New York said mammograms did save lives but that this was evident

only after many years -- an effect that earlier studies had missed.

They reported that data criticized by other researchers actually showed

a 55 percent reduction in the risk of dying from breast cancer for women

of 55 and older who were followed for between eight and 11 years after

screening, and a 30 percent decrease in women who were 45 to 54 years old.

Breast cancer is second-biggest cause of cancer deaths among women in

the United States, after lung cancer. In 2001 an estimated 192,200 women

were diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,600 women died from it. The

American Cancer Society ( news

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) predicts that 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this

year.

denied the new recommendations were prompted by the

controversy. " I didn't feel any pressure. I just felt it was the right

thing to do, " he told the news conference.

" I felt there was conflicting information. Women are confused about

whether they should go and have their mammograms done or not. "

Thursday's new recommendations are based on reviews of eight large

studies of women who got mammograms compared to women who did not. One

trial found mammograms did not significantly save lives, another found a

32 percent reduction in death from breast cancer and the rest fell in

between.