New guidelines lower age for first mammogram

Jennifer Lacalandra has a permanent memory of her battle with breast cancer – tattooed on her wrist.

“Never in my wildest dreams [did] I think at 41, I was going to have breast cancer. I was in good health. I ate well. It was breathtaking to be so young,” said Lacalandra, a breast cancer survivor.

Lacalandra says first after finding a lump on her breast – the mammogram did not detect her cancer. It was only after her provider, Dr. Francis Arena, ordered an MRI – which revealed suspicious cells that needed to be biopsied.

“They came back the next day as breast cancer,” Lacalandra said.

According to new draft guidelines from the US Preventive Services Task Force, women should start having mammograms every two years at age 40 instead of waiting until age 50.

“They’re half right because they’ve finally realized that you can’t make these kinds of demonstrable recommendations like they’re written in stone and say that mammograms can only be given to 50-year-old women. C is wrong,” said Dr. Francis Arena, medical director of NYU Langone Arena Oncology.

Dr. Arena also recommends annual mammograms rather than every other year.

He fears that insurance companies will use the new recommendations to refuse annual scans.

According to Dr. Arena, according to radiology board research, annual mammograms at age 40 reduce the mortality rate by about 42%.

“We’re talking about someone’s life. If I could get breast cancer early, I’d cure it. And that’s exactly how we have to feel. We have to be very adamant about it. We have to make sure that we are not going to allow insurance companies to dictate what we are going to prescribe to our patients and at all costs we must protect them,” said Dr. Arena.

The American Cancer Society supports the drafted guidelines, calling them a significant positive change.

There is a public comment period before the draft recommendations become final.

But the scientific director of the American Cancer Society stresses that these guidelines apply to women at average risk of cancer. People with a family history should talk to their doctor about even earlier screenings.

“I think what we should really be aiming for as a society is for people to actually be screened on a much more personalized and adaptable basis over time,” said Dr. William Dahut, Chief Scientific Officer. of the American Cancer Society.

As for Lacalandra, she has now been cancer-free for six years.

“I’m blessed to be able to watch my kids grow up and see everything I’m meant to see,” Lacalandra said.

She has three daughters and says they will all advocate for early detection of breast cancer.