Southbury, CT--Concerned about confusion following the release November 16 of new mammography guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a local women’s imaging expert confirmed that women in their 40s should continue annual mammograms and breast self exams as recommended by the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American College of Radiology (ACR).
“The medical community should always monitor new scientific information and be open to change when there’s enough solid data to support it,” said Matthew Bushey, M.D., of Naugatuck Valley Radiology Associates. “But on the sole basis of what the task force presented, the science isn’t there yet. So women in their 40s should stay the course.”
Dr. Bushey said he has been pleased to see that, so far, every patient he has spoken with about the issue is doing just that.
“When findings are presented so abruptly, before the larger scientific and medical communities have had enough time to evaluate them thoroughly, you have to be concerned that the public could overreact,” he said.
“But fortunately, I haven’t seen a single example of a woman changing her mind about her mammogram. Instead, they’re mostly concerned that the findings could drive government and insurers to make screening less accessible.”
Dr. Bushey said he finds assurances from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that the recommendations won’t change federal policy to be comforting in the short term. He cautioned, however, that a confusing sense of mixed signals about mammography could be a tipping point for patients who are already reluctant.
For example, study results reported earlier this year in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found obese women less likely to have had a recent mammogram, with issues of low self-esteem and negative body image among possible reasons why.
“It’s groups like this--women who feel ambivalent about mammography--
allow science and politics to be intertwined, and change policy when there’s not enough science to back it up.”
