The Preventive Services Task Force Recommends On Doing

{text:bookmark-start} Mammograms {text:bookmark-end} Mammograms are important to have because it not only affects women over 40, but it affects young and men also. A mammogram (also called a mammography exam) is a safe, low-dose x-ray of the breast. A high-quality mammogram is the most effective tool for detecting breast cancer early. Early detection of breast cancer may allow more treatment options. It could even mean saving your breast or your life. Mammograms are probably the most important tool doctors have to help them diagnose, evaluate, and follow women who've had breast cancer. Mammograms don't prevent breast cancer, but they can save lives by finding breast cancer as early as possible. There are four important things to know

The current recommendation is that women over the age of 40 should receive a mammogram every 1-2 years (Kidd, Colbert & Jatoi, 2015). Breast cancer mortality is higher in ethnic minorities including, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans (O’Keefe, Meltzer, & Bethea, 2015). With Black, Hispanic, Asian, and White women with breast cancer in a low socioeconomic status, there is also an association with higher mortality rates (O’Keefe et al., 2015). The causes for these disparities is multifactorial and include knowledge deficit, incorrect perceptions about cancer, embarrassment, and prioritization of competing personal obligations, such as working or taking care of family members (Nonzee, et al., 2015). To add to the problem, minority women are much more likely to have high deductible insurance plans, or no insurance coverage at all (Tangka, et al., 2017). These issues lead to later stages of diagnosis of breast cancer, going longer between mammograms, lack of follow-up after suspicious findings on mammograms, and once diagnosed, incomplete treatment of breast cancer (O’Keefe et al.,

Over the past two decades, mammography has become the central tool used to detect cancerous regions within the breast. This evolution has been enabled by advancements in the technology itself and its implementation into healthcare regulations of numerous countries around the world (Pisano et al., 2004). In its beginning stages, breast cancer is a relatively treatable disease, and increased awareness for both mammograms and self-breast examinations have led to earlier diagnoses. Studies suggest that increases in mammography screenings have been one of the main reasons that breast

New guidelines recently issued recommend that women with an average risk of breast cancer start having mammograms at the age 45 and continue having them until they reach the age of 54. Then after the age of 54 every other year for as long as they are healthy and likely to live another 10 years when previously the American Cancer. However, the American Cancer Society, which had taken the most aggressive approach to breast screenings, had previously recommended having mammograms and breast exams starting at the age of 40 every year (Grady, 2015)

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the US. About 40,000 women die from breast cancer each year, making it “the second leading cause of cancer death among women” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) requires insurers to “provide coverage for and shall not impose any cost sharing requirements for” preventive services which are “in the current recommendation of the United States Preventive Services Task Force” (USPSTF). Nevertheless, the ACA makes an exception for breast cancer screening by stating that the USPSTF’s recommendation regarding mammogram “shall be considered the most current other than those issued in or around November 2009”. By using this legislative tool, the federal government mandates health insurers to provide coverage for annual or biennial mammograms in women aged 40 and older (US Preventive Services Task Force, 2013).

The Author reports that the new recommended age for mammograms, by the United States Preventative Services Task Force, has changed from 50 to 40 to reduce the harm from over screening and overtreatment. It also reports that self-breast examinations are no longer recommended on a regular basis. This recommendation comes from evidence that there are no major benefits of early screenings and that only “one cancer death is prevented for every 1,904 women” screened, age 40 to 49. Conversely, there is evidence that frequent early screenings can lead to overtreatment

Every year, one in four women who are diagnosed with breast cancer die. In order to prevent this from happening, forms of early detection, such as mammograms are recommended annually to women over 40 years old (Zavatsky et al, 2014, p.1). Mammograms are very uncomfortable due to the extreme pressure put on the patient. The anxiety of possible bad news and the pain associated with this test can cause many women to avoid regular check ups. If women don’t receive regular mammograms, they may not know that they have cancer, and when they do find out, it may be too late. By having mammograms done on women over 40 regularly, we can attempt to lower the statistics of women dying of breast cancer. Even though the study didn’t show that women who received music therapy during mammograms had less pain, it did show that women had lower levels of anxiety and provided a means of distraction from

The article describes the lack of strong evidence to support the guideline of rather women should start mammogram screening at age 40 or 50 as well as the age to stop having mammogram screening. A group of experts in primary care and prevention called USPSTF recommend women of age 40 to 49 to consult with their doctor about mammogram and decide for themselves on when is the better time to start mammogram screening. Early mammogram has caused a number of false positive cases and unnecessary breast biopsies. This has cause the U.S. health care system as much as $4 billion dollar per year. Even though early mammogram has saved lives, there is no strong evidence to really back up when mammogram screening should begin versus the risk and cost.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of death among women (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) state that in 2013 230,815 women in the United States were diagnosed with breast cancer, and in 2013 40,860 women died from breast cancer (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). From 2002 to 2012, the occurrences of a breast cancer diagnosis remained at an even level, however the death rate from breast cancer decreased by 1.9% per year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Mammography has been used for years to detect breast cancer and is considered the most effective tool to identify breast cancer (Komen, 2016).

Currently, mammography is the main modality used in diagnosing breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women and is currently the second leading cause of death among Canadian women (Komen 2015). Breast cancer can occur in men but this is uncommon. According to Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation an estimate in 2015 suggests that 25,000 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and that 1 in 30 women will die from the cancer. On average in 2015 the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation collected data that estimates 5,000 women will die of breast cancer in Canada annually. However on the brighter side the Canadian

My mom makes herself go for a mammogram every year. The same as many other women, she doesn’t like it because the pain from the compression technique of the machine and the schedule is not very nice sometimes. Despite the inconvenience, she trusts that the screening mammogram could save her life from breast cancer. However, is the mammogram that valuable as a screening test? This question has been a controversial issue since an annual screening mammography was recommended to women above the age of 40. Recently, a vast study from Canada has casted doubts on the value of this screening test again. Since it made headlines on newspapers and TV news on February, many researchers have investigated and given opposing opinions on this Canadian study. Experts, including the American Cancer Society and the American Radiology College, debunk this Canadian study and strongly encourage women to continue their annual screening mammograms. Today, a development version of mammography – digital breast tomosynthesis – is a promising technology that would improve the quality of mammography. For a better healthy life, women should continue their annual breast mammograms and request that the hospital use tomosynthesis technology to ensure the accuracy of this crucial screening test.

The manner in which mammography as a whole has assisted in many detections of breast cancer in women around the world has shown that it is really vital to the screening process of breast cancer, and to think that mammography is still evolving to greater things of detecting these small lesions of cancer (Kopans, 2007: 1).

Women should receive more information about benefits and harm of screening to support informed decision making about breast cancer screening

I also asked some questions that women might ask before getting a mammogram, like, does it hurt? How much does it cost? She said “it can be uncomfortable, but for me personally, it doesn’t hurt”, and for cost she said “it’s around 300 dollars total, there is a mammogram fee of around 240-260 dollars and a CAD fee (computer aided detection) of around 50 dollars”. Some women tend to not get regular checkups and hold off on being examined even if they feel a lump, and because of this the death rate of breast cancer is very high. So I asked Kim

Although the incidence of breast cancer is increasing, mortality rates are declining due to better treatment and screening, and earlier detection.4,5 Patients are being made more aware of the