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Requirements for Women
International panel of experts has studied the newest set of evidences on the use of mammograms in the screening for breast cancer and say that this test does the most good for women at their 50’s and 60’s. Women at their late 60’s or around 70-74 also benefit but to a lower extent. Evidence also shows that women in their 40’s are actually ‘limited’, although some of the members has disagreed on this for women at 45-49 years old. The report of the panel was published online on Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.
It has been a long debate as to when is the best time to get mammograms since the year 2009, when the U.S preventive Services Task force said that all women should be tested and screened every 2 years starting at the age 50, and that doing this before only do little advantage and has already become a personal choice.
The global advice itself gives us a perspective that came from over 29 cancer experts from 16 countries, which was convened by the International Agency for research on cancer. screening chief Dr. Robert A. Smith has always recommended that annual mammograms are recommended starting at the age 40. The international panel pointed that it‘does really demonstrate a legitimate scientific question about the screening of women in their 40’s’ said Dr. Otis Brawley the chief medical officer.
Mammograms, is it really necessary?
Mammograms give us many false alarms, that could eventually lead to costly follow ups and tests that are not needed in the first place. The panel also found out that there are many cancers that would never have threatened a woman’s life, and many cancers also have proven itself to be fatal no matter how late or soon they are actually found. Treatments for breast cancers already improved and the value of the tests to actually just find the disease early also shrunk. They just wanted to update their last advice from the year 2002, including treatment improvements into account as well. They therefore concluded that mammograms can actually cut the risks of having uncontrollable cancer of the breast by up to 40 percent for women ages 50-69 years old.