I have to say, I'm happy to see most/all of us planning on getting mammograms starting at 40-ish instead of age 50 as recommended by the government-appointed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force just last year..... what a way to reverse YEARS of educating women about such an important disease. The call to set aside the new recommendations continues...
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/05/31/gvsd0531.htm
HHS urged to pull controversial mammography advice
Radiologists back a lawmaker's demand that the department cease promoting recommendations issued last fall.
By Chris Silva, amednews staff. Posted May 31, 2010.
PRINT| E-MAIL| RESPOND| REPRINTS| SHARE Washington -- Lawmakers have directed the Obama administration to set aside revised breast cancer screening recommendations issued last November by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force after the advice was met with strong criticism by some physicians and women's groups. However, the Dept. of Health and Human Services still lists the revised recommendations as the most current ones, and the lawmaker who authored the provision wants that changed.
On May 12, Sen. David Vitter (R, La.) sent a letter to HHS asking it to remove from its website and cease all promotion of the task force recommendations related to breast cancer screening and mammography. The task force guidelines, published in the Nov. 17, 2009, Annals of Internal Medicine, said women younger than age 50 do not need routine mammography screening and that women ages 50 to 74 should get a mammogram every two years. The guidelines also recommended against teaching women to do breast self-examination.
The disputed guidelines
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The revisions marked a shift from the task force's previous recommendations, issued in 2002, that called for a mammography every one to two years for all women older than 40. The task force later clarified that the decision to obtain the screening for a woman younger than age 50 should be an individual one that takes specific patient circumstances into account.
Vitter called the recommendations "ill-conceived" and said they were offered without transparency and input from those with experience and expertise in the field. He successfully amended the health system reform law to say that the November 2009 recommendations should not be considered the most current ones.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the branch of HHS that lists the revised recommendations on its website, did not return calls requesting comment.
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/05/31/gvsd0531.htm
HHS urged to pull controversial mammography advice
Radiologists back a lawmaker's demand that the department cease promoting recommendations issued last fall.
By Chris Silva, amednews staff. Posted May 31, 2010.
PRINT| E-MAIL| RESPOND| REPRINTS| SHARE Washington -- Lawmakers have directed the Obama administration to set aside revised breast cancer screening recommendations issued last November by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force after the advice was met with strong criticism by some physicians and women's groups. However, the Dept. of Health and Human Services still lists the revised recommendations as the most current ones, and the lawmaker who authored the provision wants that changed.
On May 12, Sen. David Vitter (R, La.) sent a letter to HHS asking it to remove from its website and cease all promotion of the task force recommendations related to breast cancer screening and mammography. The task force guidelines, published in the Nov. 17, 2009, Annals of Internal Medicine, said women younger than age 50 do not need routine mammography screening and that women ages 50 to 74 should get a mammogram every two years. The guidelines also recommended against teaching women to do breast self-examination.
The disputed guidelines
See related content
The revisions marked a shift from the task force's previous recommendations, issued in 2002, that called for a mammography every one to two years for all women older than 40. The task force later clarified that the decision to obtain the screening for a woman younger than age 50 should be an individual one that takes specific patient circumstances into account.
Vitter called the recommendations "ill-conceived" and said they were offered without transparency and input from those with experience and expertise in the field. He successfully amended the health system reform law to say that the November 2009 recommendations should not be considered the most current ones.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the branch of HHS that lists the revised recommendations on its website, did not return calls requesting comment.
