For the first time in 20 years, a government panel is telling women in their 40s to stop getting routine mammograms and recommending that a host of other breast cancer screening slow down.

The United States Preventive Service Task Force announced Monday that it recommends against annual mammograms for women age 40 to 49 because, they say, the "harms" and risks of testing do not outweigh the benefits.

USPSTF still recommends doctors start screening all women over age 50, but with a mammogram once every two years instead of annually. The taskforce also recommended against teaching breast self-exams for all women and that evidence was insufficient to recommend mammograms for women older than 74. Women who are at a known high risk for breast cance, for instance women who tested positive for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes would not fall under the guidelines. SOURCE
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Is this the start of what we can expect from Government controlled healthcare?

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There are plenty of cases out there where women have been discovered to have breast cancer before the age of 50. This makes absolutely no sense at all.

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I guess this is how the government will reduce the cost of healthcare and social security. Let them die.

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Where the ^&*% did these assholes come from? This government heathcare sounds better every day. You can prevent cancer by not looking for it? Oh well, a funeral is cheaper than trying to treat the disease that will eventually kill you. Well, Obama did say his plan will save money. We're not going to treat your expensive disease, but look at the bright side, you have heathcare.

I guess the FACT THAT CANCER SPREADS RAPIDLY wasn't of importance.

My problem with this is that now that this guideline has come out insurance companies will adopt them and it won't even be an option to be screened every year.

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The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), first convened by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1984, and since 1998 sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. The USPSTF conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the "gold standard" for clinical preventive services.


The mission of the USPSTF is to evaluate the benefits of individual services based on age, gender, and risk factors for disease; make recommendations about which preventive services should be incorporated routinely into primary medical care and for which populations; and identify a research agenda for clinical preventive care.


U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: About the USPSTF


Snippets from the article:


Family doctors often abide by the task force's recommendations in their practices, and insurance companies routinely turn to USPSTF -- a panel of independent medical experts -- to guide coverage plans.


................

Dr. Diana Petitti, vice chair of USPSTF, said the task force never looked at costs in their research or their recommendations.


"The task force doesn't deal with insurance and coverage," Petitti said. "Cost was not a part of what the task force looked at."


Instead, the task force reviewed a number of studies to compile the benefits of mammograms, such as how many cancers were detected and how many lives were saved, and the harms of mammograms, such as how many false positives popped up, how many unnecessary tests were done and how much extra radiation women were exposed to during the false positive testing.


....................

"The recommendation was voted on almost a year-and-a-half ago," she said. "It is, in reality, entirely an accident that it is coming out on the heels of a lot of information about breast cancer screening, and certainly accidental in relationship to anything that's being talked about in politics."


...................

"These new recommendations are long overdue. Most countries do not support mammography screening under 50 and do it every other year after 50 in their government-sponsored screening programs," said Dr. Susan Love, founder of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation.


"I hope that the insurers will change reimbursement, because it is probably the only way that women will be spared the extra radiation exposure of too many mammograms," Love said. "Since our system pays the radiologist, hospital or mammography center and biopsying surgeon by the more they do, there is no incentive for this to come from the medical profession."


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The USPSTF also recommends mammograms be performed on an individual basis, if the doctor recommends one.



End of article quotes


It looks to me as though a panel of independent private doctors made the determination that, on the whole, routine mammograms for all women under 50 aren't necessary. The recommendation excludes women who are at risk for breast cancer and any woman who's doctor recommends one.


Insurance companies are going to use this information to adjust coverages. Believe it. But they're still bound by state law, which currently mandates breast cancer screening coverage in 49 states, and the American Cancer Society will certainly do what it can to see that those laws aren't changed. Even if they are, it essentially looks like you will simply need a reason to get a mammogram under age 50, instead of just going to get one for the sake of it.

I will do em every year for ya for free

Yeesh. Doesn't sound good, but I'm not ready to form a solid opinion yet....My Adobe reader is giving me hell and I can't open the evidence files because they are PDF's.

It's important to bear in mind that the AHRQ uses independant practice centers to analyze scientific evidence to determine what is truly preventative and what is unecessary and costly in health care....not publicly funded healthcare, but all healthcare.

The fact of the matter is, Dr's order this test and that test, not because you really need them (most times anyway) but so they can bill for them. This is what the insurance industry forces them to do by negotiating such low group rates, they have to pay for their mammogram machine somehow. Your survival instinct is to want to have the newest, most comprehensive testing and I can understand that, but people need to understand who is paying for the "get your annual mammogram starting at age 40!" ads. I'd put money on the probability that it's likely the mammogram machine's patent holders.

Exactly. Also,why not a breast sonogram instead of an X-ray by another name? It's got to be better for you in the long run compared to annually exposing your breast tissue to radiation.

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Sure.

My wife's aunt almost died 2 years ago from breast cancer. She's in her mid 50's. Thank God they caught it in time. And for that reason, I'm going to want my wife to be screened in her 40's. I would assume her doctor would have no trouble recommending screenings with her family history.

Just a hunch...I think my husband will have a problem with your qualifications or lack there of. Thanks for the offer.

Why ??

My father was a T.V repairman he has a awesome set of tools

I think it's irresponsible to put forth a recommendation that, at its best, is confusing and and its worst is dangerous.

If other medical organizations, including those with established oncologists on board, reviewed the same information and came to a different conclusion, then I would say that more study is needed before any change in recommendations are made.

I understand there is a good deal of debate about mammography under the age of 50 for women who do not have a history of breast cancer. I don't know much about it, but you can do the research and read up on it if you're interested. Essentially, mammography can lead to overdiagnosing, overtesting, and overtreating benign tumors, cysts, or non-threatening cancers, and analog mammography film isn't always effective in dense breast tissue found in younger women.

I think it's important to note several things here: first off, USPSTP does not make policy. They make policy recommendations along with dozens and dozens of other medical groups. Secondly, they are not the only group to come to this conclusion. Several years ago, the American College of Physicians came to a similar conclusion.(CNN.com - Paging Dr. Gupta Blog)

Again, this frightens me. Same data, very different opinions across the board, so why make a blanket statement that could effect so many lives?

We should be pushing for better, more efficient mammography for younger women, not scrapping it all together. We need beter imaging, better technology, and doctors and nurses who are trained to read digital mammograms in dense breat tissue.

I have a very personal stake in this - I am high risk for breast cancer. My grandmother is a survivor, and both my mother and I have had several benign tumors. I don't want to think of my jugs as ticking time bombs, but I will do everything I can to make sure I'm getting proper screening. I'm too young for my insurance company to cover mammograms, but I get annual bi-lateral ultrasounds ordered by my doctor. Although I am diligent about self-exams, my ultrasounds have found masses that I could never have felt. This is why it is so important for high risks groups to take their breast health a step further.

I can relate to some extent Jessica. My wife is in the same boat. Cancer runs in her family like stroke and heart attack run in mine. I hope that explains my outburst that this was even mentioned by one of our many government tentacles. I simply won't settle for anything less than the best for her. Ask the staff at Christiana Care when she was in for one of her lumpectomies among other visits she needed. I was up their ass, in a respectful way of course. Hell, I can give hospital tours now with the amount of time I've spent in there the last two years. I guess when it all boils down, it's her care that has me questioning how good or bad government care will be. I just don't trust them.
Oh, and good luck with your situation too. That stuff can wear on you big time. I hope you don't need to but if you ever end up in the hospital for whatever, if anything doesn't feel right to you (women's intuition is amazing) now matter how insignificant, please don't hesitate to question it many times. You'd be surprized at the things they miss. The reason I say this is if I didn't question and put a fire under somebody's ass this past year, my wife would have died.

It looks like the medical systems are trying to cut costs.I always liked the self exams system the best, but my wife said , keep you hands to your self.

It should be between you and your Doc. Family history, personal habits, build, diet and in some cases genetic testing should have a lot to do with any woman's decision.The radiation is much less that it was many years ago and the new digital machines are even better.

HHS Secretary Says Never Mind Those New Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Made By an HHS Advisory Panel

You've heard about those changing guidelines on breast cancer screening issued by a government advisory panel? Never mind, said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday.

CNSNews.com - HHS Secretary Says Never Mind Those New Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Made By an HHS Advisory Panel