Mammogram Guidelines Relax

The mammogram's popularity surged after a 1970 study showed that regular screening could reduce the breast cancer death rate by more than 30 percent. But lately, the mammogram's usefulness -- especially for so-called “low-risk” women -- is being scrutinized.

So what’s the problem? For one thing, mammograms are not perfect, and often raise false alarms. Indeed, 90 percent of abnormal mammograms are actually not due to cancer.

Also, mammograms frequently diagnose an early cancer called ductal carcinoma-in-situ, a type that often goes away on it’s own and/or may be just as easily treated when it is large enough to be felt.

Many doctors now recommend different breast cancer screening guidelines based on different risk categories. These guidelines take into consideration things such as:

• your age
• whether you have any relatives who have had breast cancer
• whether you have previously received a diagnosis of benign breast cancer
• whether you have ever had radiation treatments

Consult your ob/gyn to obtain the latest and most personalized advice. However, in general, all women are advised:

• to obtain a baseline exam between the ages of 35 and 40
• continue getting mammograms every one to two years from age 40 to 50
• have annual mammograms after age 50

Despite recent controversies over its usefulness, especially in women under age 50, mammography is still considered to be the gold standard for early detection of breast cancer. And The National Academy of Sciences still states that regular mammograms "substantially decrease" the risk of dying from breast cancer.