Women urged to check early for breast cancer

Daily staff report

NEWSROOM@VAILDAILY.COM 

EDWARDS — Dr. Janice Ugale, the medical director of the Sonnenalp Breast Center at the Shaw Regional Cancer Cen­ter in Edwards, says she is shocked by a recent announcement made by the U. S. Preventative Services Task Force recom­mending that women forgo beginning annual screening mammograms at age 40.

The Task Force advises women to wait until age 50 to begin having mammo­grams every other year. In addition, the announcement stated that it was no longer necessary for women to perform self breast examinations.

“ Frankly I feel that this is a step back­wards in the early detection of breast can­cer,” Ugale says. “ The task force, none of whom have a background in breast cancer diagnosis or treatment, reviewed mostly the same data that resulted in the recom­mendation of beginning annual screening at age 40 several years ago.”

Ugale said that from August of 2008 to August of 2009, 6,810 women had mam­mograms at the Sonnenalp Breast Center, with 45 percent of these women being under 50. Thirty-seven percent of the cancers found were in women less than age 50 and 23 percent of the cancers diagnosed in women between the ages of 40 and 49 were found on a screening mammogram, in women with no symp­toms.

“ This data shows that if women in our community had adhered to this new rec­ommendation, a significant number would be walking around with breast can­cer today unaware, all the while letting the cancer go untreated,” Ugale says.

Ugale says that starting screening bian­nually with mammograms at age 50 is the standard in the United Kingdom, where there is a 69.7 percent five- year survival rate in diagnosed cases of breast cancer versus an 83.9 percent five- ear survival rate in the United States, where the rec­ommendation is to start screening mam­mography at age 40. “ The bottom line is that early detection creates a huge advantage in successful treatment of breast cancer,” Ugale says. “ Mammography has unequivocally been shown to save lives and is primarily responsible for the 30 percent decline in breast cancer mortality in the United States over the past 20 years.

“ From all the data that I have reviewed and my own personal experience, until a better screening alternative becomes available, I strongly advise that the women of the Vail Valley continue to fol­low the American Cancer Society’s rec­ommendation and begin annual screen­ing mammograms at age 40.”

For more information on mammogra­phy testing, contact the Sonnenalp Breast Center at 970- 569- 7690.

‘THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT EARLY DETECTION CREATES A HUGE ADVANTAGE IN SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT OF BREAST CANCER.’

Dr. Janice Ugale
Medical director, Sonnenalp Breast Center, Edwards

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