American Cancer Society Says Start Mammograms At 45, Not 40

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A mammogram can look suspicious, but on further testing and perhaps a biopsy, the spot may turn out to be nothing. This is not a small matter to the thousands of women this happens to every year.

For that and other reasons, experts examined decades of research to update the American Cancer Society's recommendations for breast cancer screening.

"What we realize is that there are areas that the evidence is very clear and there's other areas that there may be a trade-off. We recommend starting regular screening at age 45. The evidence clearly shows that there is substantial magnitude of benefit, life saved, compared to the risks of having a false-positive biopsy, false-positive additional images or over diagnosis," says Dr. Kevin Oeffinger of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The new recommendations support annual screening starting at age 45, instead of 40, and mammograms every other year starting at age 55.

Women 40 to 44 would have the option for early screening, and women older than age 55 could continue yearly screening if they choose.

"We do not recommend a particular age to stop screening. There is definitely benefit into the mid-70s, and we think benefit beyond that in women who are active and have a 10-year life expectancy of reasonably good health," Dr. Oeffinger continues.

Breast cancer advocate Diana Napper lost her best friend to breast cancer. She was diagnosed at age 49, and died at age 50.

Napper raises funds to increase screening opportunities for women. She disagrees with this new advice.

"You very rarely hear that diagnosis, that they're diagnosed and they die six to eight months later," says Napper, of Glimmer of Hope. "And I do believe it's because of early detection, which indicated more this was a bad decision to take that mammography back."

Dr. William Poller, Director of Breast Imaging at Allegheny Health Network, joined Mangino and Shelley on the KDKA Afternoon News to talk about the recommendations.

"What happened to change? What happened from yesterday to today? What's new in the literature? Is there anything that says ladies should all of a sudden not have a mammogram at age 40 but have a mammogram at age 45," Dr. Poller explained, "There is no new material that says anything to that effect."

Dr. Poller says that age 40 is the way to go but there are other risk factors to consider for your doctor to suggest you start earlier than that. Such as if a first degree relative was diagnosed or if you yourself have already had a cancer scare. He says statistically breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women 45 and younger.

"The goal is to save lives that is the only thing I'm interested in I've done it for 40 years," Dr. Poller said.

Thanks to that way of thinking our own Bonny Diver can say she faced breast cancer and won. She is a survivor of breast cancer and she says we need a reason as to why the American Cancer Society came out with this.

"It really makes us survivors feel like they are pulling the rug out from underneath of us because there are so many times that, well not for me, but a mammogram has saved a life," Bonny said.

Bonny was 46 when she found her cancer, she had mammograms every year since she was 40. She found a lump that turned out to be cancer when she fell of her horse and breaking her should just 7 months after her mammogram. There are many reasons why mammograms don't always show masses right away, especially if you have dense breasts, but new 3D mammogram technology looks to solve that problem.

Recently in the news the 3D mammograms are now covered under your insurance and Bonny says she still has women that she talks to that wonder why they didn't know about this option,

"This just happened because someone said, well I didn't think my 3D mammogram was covered, it is now," Bonny said, "Now the 3D is a much better way to do it, it may have shown mine when I went in for my annual mammogram."

Tune into the KDKA Afternoon News with Mangino and Shelley weekdays 3-7 PM.

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