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SUNDAY'S CHILD
Sunday's Child "Christopher" 2/7/10
Just in time for the Winter Olympics, CBS 7’s Tatum Hubbard hit the ice with a very athletic 15-year-old for a little "speed skating."
Just in time for the Winter Olympics, CBS 7’s Tatum Hubbard hit the ice with a very athletic 15-year-old for a little "speed skating."
Odessa Breast Cancer Survivor Disputes New Government Mammogram Recommendations 11/17/09
Beau Berman
CBS 7 News
bberman@cbs7.com
November 17, 2009
Odessa, Texas -
A government task force is recommending women receive fewer mammograms and stop self-breast-cancer exams. The American Cancer Society and at least one local survivor disagree.
The United States Preventive Services Task Force released new guidelines, Monday, regarding breast cancer detection. The task force advises women in their 40s to not automatically get mammograms, says women between 50 and 74 should get screened once every two years, not annually, and makes no recommendation for women over 75.
"I question whether they are appropriate and whether they will be widely accepted in the medical community. I believe we need more information before we make changes in our practice", says Odessa Doctor, Faye Armstrong.
She isn't alone in questioning the new recommendations. The American Cancer Society, Breastcancer.org and the Susan G. Komen Foundation agree that the benefits of screening outweigh the costs.
"Certainly it will reduce false alarms, but the risk that you carry is that you also reduce recognizing breast cancer in women you would otherwise miss", says Armstrong.
Odessan Kathy Rhodes disagrees with the guidelines based on personal experience.
"As a breast cancer survivor and person who found my own cancer with self breast exams at age 45, had I waited to age 50 for my first mammogram, I would have been dead", she explains.
The preventive task force argues that earlier screening can lead to false-positive tests that trigger unnecessary invasive procedures like biopsies. Some evidence suggests the radiation from too many mammograms can actually cause breast cancer. Rhodes believes the recommendations could be part of a government effort to cut back on costs, at any cost to patients.
"Why would you discourage women from doing a very simple self breast exam?", she says.
Because insurance reimbursement is based on recommendations from many major groups, it's unlikely the task force alone will affect coverage for women in their 40s. However, Rhodes doesn't underestimate the possible consequences of women following the recommendations.
"They will lose their lives. It's not unlike somewhat of a medical holocaust on women", she says.
Doctor Armstrong urges people to remember these recommendations are intended for women with average risk only. Women with a family history of breast cancer or other factors placing them in a high-risk category should get checked regularly.
