LIMA, OH (WLIO) - The recommended age for women to start screening for breast cancer has dropped, and a local doctor sees this as a good move to protect women. Ellie Janszen has the story.
The American College of Radiology is recommending annual mammograms as the U.S. Preventative Task Force has lowered the age to get screened 10 years sooner from the past recommended age of 50 to age 40. The Lima Memorial Health System's Women's Health Center medical director, Dr. Darlene Weyer, says that with the change from 2009 guidelines, it is important to follow both the new year and age recommendations for mammograms.
"We're still recommending every single year, and the reason being is because you don't want to have a mammogram today and then your breast cancer start tomorrow and then go two years with no screening. The cancers in younger women are typically much more aggressive; those are the cancers that can kill people. We want to catch them early; we do not want to wait two years. So the Society of Breast Imaging, American College of Radiology, as well as major hospitals across the country are doing mammograms starting at the age of 40 and doing them every single year," explained Dr. Darlene Weyer.
For those with a family history of breast cancer or those more at risk, it is recommended that you should go 10 years before your family member's diagnosed age to be cautious. Dr. Weyer encourages these yearly screenings as well as getting supplemental screenings with machines like the 3D automated breast ultrasound system for dense breast tissue. The tests are recommended by scientists and doctors because of the accuracy and benefits of the machine's color detection to find cancer.
"The fibroglandular tissue is white on a mammogram, and all breast cancers are white on a mammogram, so if you have a lot of this white, dense glandular tissue, a little teeny tiny cancer could be easily missed or obscured. So when we do that automated breast ultrasound tool that we have, that other imaging modality, all cancers on that modality are gray or a certain shade of gray, so when we have that white cancer, it's very easily seen because it shows up gray on the ultrasound, so we're able to see through all that white glandular tissue in the ultrasound, so those cancers just pop right out. They're very easily seen," added Dr. Weyer.
The American Cancer Society has found that there is a 1 in 8 chance that a woman will develop breast cancer, so following the new guidelines to help with early detection could save your life.
