Last week the US Preventive Services Task Force came out with new guidelines for mammography. Simply stated, the new guidelines recommend that:
Your request is being processed...
1. Routine mammography screening start at age 50 instead of 40 (guidelines provided in 2002).
2. Frequency of screening to be reduced to every two years rather than the previously recommended
every year.
3. Breast self-examinations are no longer recommended.
4. Clinical breast exams (performed by physicians) only minimally improve outcome in patients who
have mammograms.
These guidelines encountered a furious backlash in the media immediately after its publication in the Annals of Internal Medicine from special interest groups, patient groups and politicians with special agendas.
As a practicing physician, women's health advocate and opinion leader in the prevention movement and a healthier America, I welcome the guidelines and would like to share with you my personal and clinical understanding of their meaning... Click here for more.