Earlier this week the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force published new guidelines in the Annals of Internal Medicine stating that routine mammograms, should only be performed every other year on women ages 50 to 74, rather than every year starting at age 40. The guidelines also encouraged physicians to refrain from teaching their patients to examine their own breasts for signs of cancer because of a lack of beneficial evidence.
We spoke with Lilly Klancar, a medical oncologist and hematologist at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colorado, about the new guidelines. Klancar has worked extensively with breast cancer patients, many of whom have found their own cancer.
Do you agree with the new guidelines from the U.S. Preventative Task Force?
I completely disagree with them. Mammograms and self-exams are the absolute best way to catch cancer in its early stages and improve survival rates. About 90 percent of breast cancer patients here at Swedish Medical Center have had their breast cancer caught by a mammogram.
I have probably 15 patients right now who have found their own breast cancer through a self-exam. One patient in particular was in her 30s and found her aggressive breast cancer herself. She otherwise would have missed it since she is too young to qualify for a mammogram.
Self-exams are free, easy, without side effects and are ideal for women who are too young to have mammograms covered by their health insurance.
Do you believe that more women will die from breast cancer because of these guidelines?
Yes. Women under 50 may not visit their doctor until they have symptoms, which usually means the cancer has progressed.
Lora Barke, Medical Director of the Invision Sally Jobe Breast Network, a prominent breast and breast-related imaging center in the Denver area, says that despite the new guidelines, women should still receive mammograms starting at age 40.
Dr. Slenkovich will continue to encourage his patients to perform self-exams and Colorado Plastic Surgery Center requires all patients over the age of 30 undergoing and any breast procedure to have a mammogram prior to surgery.
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