For long there have been debates about the right age to carry out mammograms and two studies presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons in Washington, D.C., recommends mammogram at the age of 40.
The first study found out that early mammograms resulted in detection of breast cancer at an earlier stage and hence, it reduced the risk of tumor spreading to the lymph nodes. If cancer spreads till lymph nodes it will become difficult to treat. The study suggested screening of women in the range of 40 to 49 to reduce the risk rather than to rely on clinical exams alone.
The lead researcher, Dr. Paul Dale, chief of surgical oncology at the University of Missouri, and his colleagues observed nearly 1,600 medical records of women who were treated at the University of medical center for breast cancer and it included cases of 10 year period. They mainly concentrated on 311 women aged from 40 to 49. They found out from the data that 47 percent of them were diagnosed through mammography while 53 percent where diagnosed without mammography i.e. solely based on breast cancer symptoms. In addition to this, they also found out that the women diagnosed by mammogram had small tumors that measured on an average of 2 centimeters in diameter against 3 centimeters. Also, there were lesser cases of the tumor having spread to lymph nodes. And 56 percent of women who did not get mammography done had lymph involved cancer. Dale says, "The findings suggest that women in their 40s who develop breast cancer are going to do better if they have a mammogram."
This study, however, goes against the controversial recommendations given by U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in 2009 which suggested that the mammograms should not be done until the age of 50.
The second study states that the guidelines given by USPSTF would impact minority women in their 40s unfavorably. It involved a larger database of 47,000 women with breast cancer of which 22.6 percent were in the age group of 40 to 49 and 77.4 percent were from 50 to 74.
"We looked at a population of women who only had early breast cancer, and compared the younger, 40 to 49 — not recommended [routinely] to have screening — with an older population," explained Dr. Sharon Lum, associate professor of surgery at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in Loma Linda, Calif. The study revealed that in the younger group, that ranged between 40 to 49, there was a greater proportion of minority women (with early cancer) when compared to the older group. Lum declares, "if you exclude younger women from screening mammography, it could disproportionately affect minority women."
