By Janet Jacobs

A powerful government advisory panel has released new recommendations for breast cancer screenings, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Essentially, the panel is advising women to have mammograms every two years after age 40, unless there’s a family history of the disease, and every year after age 50; that clinical breast examinations aren’t scientifically good or bad; and that breast self-examinations just don’t seem to help.

For the last 12 years, women have been advised to get an annual mammogram after turning 40 years, to conduct monthly self-exams, and to get yearly exams by doctors.

For Vicki Sims of Corsicana, who waged her own war with breast cancer 14 years ago, anything that increases the chance of early detection is good, regardless of the new recommendations.

She found her cancer using a hand mirror during a self-examination, and because it was caught early she was eligible for a new treatment called stem cell rescue.

“I do not miss my annual (exams), and I will not miss my annuals,” she said. “Whether it’s covered by insurance or not, continue to do the exams in front of a mirror. Government doesn’t have the answer to everything.”

The federal panel came up with the new recommendations based on a variety of studies done in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and Sweden. The recommendations call for fewer mammograms because mammograms in younger women can result in false results and mean unnecessary treatments and anxiety, acccording to the panel’s report.

Dr. Neal Green, who’s been practicing obstetrics and gynecology in Corsicana since 1975, said he’s not ready to change his current policy, which calls for annuals after the age of 40.

“I personally am not willing to go along with the recommendations of the panel yet,” Green said. “Since it’s a federal government program, you almost wonder if it’s the beginning of rationing of access to mammography.”

He pointed out that the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Radiology, and the American Cancer Society, all support screening with mammography and clinical breast examinations beginning at age 40.

Green admitted that he’s seen studies showing that self-examinations aren’t that helpful, since most breast lumps are discovered almost by accident when patients are shower or shaving.

“So, I no longer recommend that, the ritual monthly self-examination,” he said.

The American Cancer Society is sticking to its guns for all three of the exams, regardless of the new federal recommendations, said Nicole Schneider, regional development director.

“We’re still recommending annual beginning at age 40, and strongly urging women to follow our guidelines,” Schneider said. “We have our expert panel review virtually the same data they reviewed, and we found convincing evidence that screening with mammograms reduces cancer mortality in women ages 40 to 70. The benefit of mammography increase with age but we have found there is increasing evidence that women should still be getting screened from 40 and on.”

“We believe it saves lives,” Schneider said.

In 2001, an estimated 192,200 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in American women, and 40,200 women died of the disease, according to figures from the American Cancer Society and quoted by the panel in its report. The probability of developing invasive breast cancer is 0.4 percent for women aged 30-39, 1.5 percent for women aged 40-49, 2.8 percent for women aged 50-59, and 3.6 percent for women aged 60-69.

—————

Click here to e-mail Janet Jacobs.

Click here to Soundoff on this story.