U.S. panel urges new mammogram policy

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A U.S. task force Monday said women in their 40s should put off having routine annual mammograms because of possible "serious negatives harms."

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which is responsible for government policy on prevention, recommends in a paper to be published Tuesday in Annals of Internal Medicine that women wait until age 50 to have routine mammograms and then have them only every other year.

The recommendation drew immediate criticism from the American Cancer Society and the American College of Radiology, The Washington Post reported.

Daniel B. Kopans, a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School, said the recommendation was "crazy -- unethical, really."

"Tens of thousands of lives are being saved by mammography screening, and these idiots want to do away with it," Kopans said.

In its first re-evaluation of breast cancer screening policy since 2002, the panel concluded there is evidence that if all women beginning at age 40 get annual mammograms, the potential for harm outweighs benefits.

"We're not saying women shouldn't get screened. Screening does save lives," said Diana B. Petitti, vice chairman of the task force. "But we are recommending against routine screening. There are important and serious negatives or harms that need to be considered carefully."

The new guidelines also recommend women no longer be taught to examine their breasts regularly and the report suggests routine mammograms are probably not needed for women over 74.

The modeling studies indicated the added benefit of starting mammograms before age 50 was modest. For every 1,000 women screened beginning at age 40, the modeling suggested 0.7 deaths from breast cancer would be prevented, while 480 women would get a false-positive result and 33 more would undergo unnecessary biopsies.