Fan Questions: New Breast Cancer Guidelines

November 19, 2009 | Lifechangers

A government panel changed the guidelines regarding breast cancer mammograms and self-examinations -- and the results are scary.

Check out Dr. Funk's breast cancer prevention tips

"Extra" Lifechanger and breast cancer specialist Dr. Kristi Funk reveals that these new recommendations "could be the difference between stage one curable" cancer and "stage four -- incurable" cancer.

Leave your questions and thoughts below on the new mammogram guidelines for a chance to have them answered by an "Extra" Lifechanger on the air.

comments

i just wanted to know if someone could tell me what bra i schould be wearing im 23 yrs and havent got an answer at the same time i get two different sizes when i take the sizes from under my breast i get 31” and around my breast i get 44” i get a 13 what size is that if any out there that can let me know that would be great….

cherri jaden
November 23, 2009

i treat breast cancer. i can’t tell you how many of my patients are young. they are very lucky for “early detection”. baseline mammograms should be at 30 years old, not 40 and definately NOT older!

L
November 19, 2009

My Grandmother had breast cancer at 68yrs old and declined treatment, she died of a heart attack 18 years later, the tumor never spread, had she of been opened up then I wonder what how long she would of lived!!…Oxygen to a tumor will make it spread!

Susie
November 18, 2009

This new recommendation is wrong, if not deadly! What would happen to the people that get cancer at an EARLIER stage in life? Waiting to get a mammogram until were much older in life is the difference between cureable and incurable. My own mother has breast cancer and it found by accident because she wasn’t due to have a mammogram yet, but her doctor told her that it was close enough for her to get another one and she did, and they found it and treated it. If she would have waited a year to get the mammogram done, it would of been worse. Doctors need to wise up and insurances need to back off and let people get treated. Insurance companies ARE NOT doctors, but they surely act like they know what’s best for everyone. Meanwhile the “fat cats” get rich in wealth & health.

Melissa
November 18, 2009

In the UK the British women are told that 50yrs is the start age for a mammogram because the breast tissue does not develop compleatly until that stage in thier life.
The US has so so many breast cancer victims that it does make me question the dangers of the actual mammogram as Dr Mandelblatt stated,”some women may be getting treated for cancers that were not dangerous”!! this means that if left alone the likely hood of the cancer spreading, or your life span, would out live the cancer…..
If you read and research as I have done for many years no other country in the world has these high statistics that the US does AGAIN this worries me, and leads me to think that its not a insurance cover up BUT a realization that the radiation does indeed cause cancer, and it would be a mass public out cry to announce this as a finding, I really think there is more going on then is being admitted too.

I am not for or against the new limit I just want the truth.

Susie
November 18, 2009

great post as usual .. thanks .. you just gave me a few more ideas to play with

forex robot
November 18, 2009

Dr. Mercola says that thermography (detecting the heat signature of a mass)is better at early detection of breast cancer than dangerous x-ray mammography. In fact, repeated exposure of breast tissue to x-rays are a contributing factor to breast cancer especially in younger women with denser tissue. Plus there is no need to compress the breast to get a reading.

Carol
November 17, 2009

Please check your facts. The American Cancer Society is strongly opposed to the new recommendations. The recommendations were brought forward by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and the US Preventative Services Task Force. The American Cancer Society and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation came out swiftly and strongly against the new recommendations. I was diagnosed at the age of 47 with a screening mammogram,no family history,risk factors or lump. Fortunately it was an early stage cancer and I was able to keep my breasts. As the cancer was very aggressive, it probably would have been advanced stage if I had gone by the new recommendations and waited until I was 50, and I would have faced the possibility of losing my breasts and my life. These recommendations are a large step backwards in ensuring women have access to quality health care.

Jennifer Smith
November 17, 2009

I can’t belive the goverment is saying this I’m 43yrs old and just finished chemo for breast cancer,i was at stage II ductal breast cancer with no history of breast cancer in my family .i’m the lucky one . i have 3 girls and i’m worried to death for them .these mammogram are so important for every woman .maybe if this was a mans issue it wouldn’t be like this .maybe we would have a cure.

cassandra
November 17, 2009

I’m 48 years old. I was just diagnosed with Breast Cancer in August. It was found early because I had my yearly mammogram done. Where would I be if I had to wait til I’m 50. It might be too late to cure.

Sandy
November 17, 2009

RANDY FROM OHIO…. YOU ARE RIGHT ON!!!!!!!! THIS OBAMA ADMINSTATION IS INDEED CUTTING BACK, ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY AND IF THIS HEALTH CARE PACKAGE PASSES YOU GUESSED IT RIGHT!! LETS CUT BACK.. LETS TELL AMERICAN WOMEN THEY DON’T NEED EXAMS TILL THERE “50” THEN WE CUT THEM OFF AT “75”. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE WHAT ELSE THEY WANT TO CUT OUT!AND YOUR RIGHT ON ABOUT THE VACINEAN, I WOULD NEVER GET ONE!!! DID YOU HEAR THE OBAMAS GIRLS WILL NOT BE GETTING SHOTS!! WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!

IVY
November 17, 2009

Is this another way that the Obama administration is culling the herd? Much like the H1N1 vaccine

randy from ohio
November 17, 2009

I am a physician, and have to say that I was appalled at the comments of Dr. Mandelblatt, who claimed that the annual mammogram starting at age 40 might lead to some women being treated for cancers that might not be harmful. CANCER IS HARMFUL!!! This is disgusting, and I thank goodness for those outspoken female physicians like Dr. Funk, who do not buy into the bureaucracy and misinformed propaganda…I am almost 40, and I would not think twice about paying out of my own pocket for a very uncomfortable few moments of breast-crushing if it meant it might save my life. It is a tragedy that some women do not have that choice, and instead may have to wonder because of policy changes….

Marleigh Moscatel
November 17, 2009

I had breast cancer with metastasis to the lymph nodes when I was in my mid forties. Chemotherapy & radiation followed a mastectomy. I cannot believe the new recommendation for mammographies. I would not be writing this note if I had waited until I was fifty.

Peg Sisson
November 17, 2009
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