ROANOKE RAPIDS — New guidelines regarding mammography and self-examinations for breast cancer detection have stirred up controversy nationwide. While a government panel believes detection efforts may be delayed from current recommendations, local cancer survivors and educational specialists believe there was nothing wrong with the old ways of doing things and call the new approach “appalling.”

The X-ray results from a mammogram. Advertisement

According to The Associated Press, a government panel of doctors and scientists called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has concluded early detection efforts, such as mammography starting at age 40 and self-exams, frequently lead to false alarms while not providing substantive improvement to survival odds.

Currently the American Cancer Society, and most of the American medical community, recommend women begin getting regular mammograms at age 40. The new recommendations advocate mammograms be put off until age 50, unless family history or other risk factors indicate earlier detection efforts.

According to the AP report, the panel found:

• Most women in their 40s should not routinely get mammograms.

• Women ages 50 to 74 should get mammograms every other year.

• Declared the value of breast exams by doctors had no known value and breast self-exams had no value.

Patricia Peele, health education coordinator for the Rural Health Group in Roanoke Rapids, still plans to stick to the old recommendations. “I understand where it’s coming from and how they arrived at their information,” Peele says. “However, in my department at the Rural Health Group we focus on education and outreach. Our recommendation is going to remain the same and we actually follow the recommendations of the American Cancer Society.”

Peele insists her program isn’t the only one sticking to the old guidelines. “All of these programs are patient-centered which focus on the needs of the patient and advocate for patient accessibility and services are still sticking with the same recommendations we have been making in the past.”

Local cancer survivor Marie Moss, owner of Wilson’s Flowers and Gourmet in the city, disagrees strongly with the new recommendations and even feels the old recommendations may not be good enough. “I’m against it,” Moss says. “I was diagnosed at 37. I can understand they want to save money on the mammograms.”

Still, Moss feels mammography could start earlier, but no later than 40 and she also believes the panel’s finding self-exams have no value is completely off-base. “That’s the thing that hit me the hardest because if I had waited until they found it ... I found it and went to the doctor and that’s what it was. I know if I had waited until I was 40 I wouldn’t be here. The mammogram’s kind of up to them; I don’t think they need to stop the self-exams. I think they should still keep it at 40; they shouldn’t go any higher than that.”

Cancer survivor Gayle Garrett, actively involved in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, found the new recommendations “appalling.”

“A lot of times you can feel the lump if you do the self-breast exam,” Garrett asserts. “And if you know what you’re looking for. The sooner you catch it the sooner you can treat it.”

Garrett feels delaying detection efforts runs counter to established practice. “It’s a proven fact the sooner you catch the cancer cell the sooner you can treat it,” she says. “I’m appalled anyone would say anything like that. I know there are a lot more people surviving breast cancer now than there used to be, and that’s because they’re finding it early.”

Peele emphasizes, however, recommendations are only recommendations. Patients must make their own choices.

“Everybody would need to really be able to talk with their providers and make the decision that’s best for them,” Peele says. “We inform them to give them information they can use to help make those decisions. With the Rural Health Group we are patient-centered and we try to center our programs around the needs of the patient. That’s where we stand right now.”