SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) More than one-thousand Utah women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Many of those women are in the age range no longer protected by mammography screenings under new guidelines from the U.S. Preventative Task Force.
Today the Utah Department Of Health announced it will convene a panel of experts and policy-makers to discuss the Task Force recommendations based on data in Utah. Kathryn Rowley from the Utah Cancer Control Program says “It will be one meeting convening the experts to look at all of the evidence, and what’s really happening in Utah and if we are different from any other state.”
The panel will be made up of cancer surgeons, radiologists, epidemiologists from the Utah Department Of Health Medical Advisory Board, the Utah Cancer Action Network and the Utah Cancer Registry as well as other medical and insurance organizations. The Department Of Health will create its own recommendation after hearing the opinions of those closest to the fight against breast cancer.
Breast Cancer continues to be the leading cause of female cancer deaths in Utah. The rate of breast cancer is 123.3 per 100,000 for Utah women between the ages of 40 and 49. That is the age group being told by the task force that mammograms are not necessary. The number of breast cancer diagnosis jumps to 195.5 per 100,000 for women between 50 and 59, and rises even more dramatically, to 349.2, for Utah women 60 to 69. Those are the women the government task force says should now only have mammograms every other year, instead of yearly.
Rowley says the guidelines are a big departure from effort to educate women about the importance of yearly screening, and is causing a lot of confusion. Confusion the state health department hopes to clear up with the help of Utah experts by early 2010, before the legislature is back in session. Until then, she says every woman should consider the recommendations for yearly mammograms after the age of 40 unchanged. “its business as usual, please don’t get too upset about the new guidelines. Lets really take a look at it, and we will come back and let you know, but for now please continue to get your screenings.”
The Utah Cancer Control Program provides free, or low-cost, breast and cervical cancer screenings to women who qualify between the ages of 40-64. Women can call (1-800-717-1811) for more information about these free screenings.
