Mammogram advice sparks 
disagreement

WATERLOO — A government panel’s findings that women should begin mammograms at 50, not 40, was lambasted by national cancer and radiology organizations less than 12 hours after being released.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released its findings Monday. In addition to delaying routine mammograms, the panel believes women between 50 and 74 years old only need to be screened every two years instead of annually and those over 75 no longer need to be tested. The panel also advises against teaching women how to do their own self-breast exams. Their recommendations apply only to women who are not already at an increased risk of breast cancer.

The American Cancer Society and American College of Radiology, two organizations that helped mold the current recommendations about 20 years ago, have both opposed the panel’s conclusions. The ACR, in releases posted on its Web site, call the recommendations “ill-advised and dangerous” and claim a change “will result in countless unnecessary breast cancer deaths each year.”

Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society, said in a release his organization will continue to recommend annual screenings and clinical breast exams for all women beginning at age 40. An ACS panel formed in 2003 reviewed much of the same data and found many of the same results. However, its recommendations to the general public varied greatly.

“With its new recommendations, the USPSTF is essentially telling women that mammography at age 40 to 49 saves lives — just not enough of them. The task force says screening women in their 40s would reduce their risk of death from breast cancer by 15 percent, just as it does for women in their 50s. But because women in their 40s are at lower risk of the disease than women 50 and above, the USPSTF says the actual number of lives saved is not enough to recommend widespread screening,” Brawley said.

The panel said the potential for overtreatment and false positives, which can lead to anxiety, for a benign lump triggered the new recommendations.

But Iowa doctors aren’t buying it. Dr. Lawrence Liebscher, a radiologist with Cedar Valley Medical Specialists, is telling his patients to continue with their planned line of care.