Why mammograms are still important

St. Joseph’s/Candler continues to recommend women should get an annual mammogram beginning at age 40. Early detection reduces mortality, studies have shown.

“If you don’t know it’s there you can’t manage it and women under 50 are getting breast cancer,” said Dr. Howard Zaren, medical director of the Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion at SJ/C.

“That’s all the more reason to get a mammogram early in life,” he said. “If we find and successfully treat breast cancer in just one woman under 50, it’s a homerun.”

A government panel has released a report suggesting women between 40 and 49 not get an annual mammogram and only every other year after 50. Additionally the panel states self-breast exams are useless.

More than 25 percent of breast cancer patients at the Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion were diagnosed under the age of 50. Virtually all found out through a mammogram or by self-breast exam.

Elizabeth Kress is one. Last year at age 42 her mammogram was suspicious and she ended up with Stage 3 cancer.

“If I had waited until I was 50 to get a mammogram I’d be dead,” she said.

She is now cancer free and helping her children with class projects.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released the recommendations Monday and they have caused confusion and controversy. The task force concluded that false-positive mammograms cause anxiety and unneeded additional tests.

“But the biggest issue is early detection and diagnosis,” Zaren said. That usually makes treatment easier and more successful.

In fact the task force acknowledges this in the report: “screening mammography reduces mortality.”

To schedule your mammogram, please call our central scheduling office at 819-6800 or 1-800-395-7873.