Do Earlier, Annual Mammograms Save More Lives?
New guidelines that recommend starting the procedure at age 40 revive an old debate about how much cancer screening is enough.
How much is too much?
Photographer: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images/AFPMainstream medical opinion holds that screening mammography is a lifesaving procedure. But doctors disagree over how often women should be screened for breast cancer. Last week, a panel of doctors known as the US Preventive Service Task Force revived the debate over mammographs by issuing a new recommendation. Their old guidelines advised starting at age 50 and getting screened every other year; the new ones keep the every-other-year recommendation but lower the starting age to 40.
Despite the new recommendations, many doctors will maintain that an annual mammogram is a necessity for me and every other woman over 40. But a growing faction warn screening healthy women this frequently might do more harm than good.