Dr. Tom Schmidt doesn’t expect recent panel recommendations on mammography or a new study supporting MRIs as a better option for cancer screening to change approaches anytime soon at St.Vincent.
The controversial recommendations, which came from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force in late 2009, suggested that women don’t need regular mammogram screenings until they turn 50. This idea hasn’t caught on with doctors — as most continue the previous policy to begin annual screenings with women over 40.
"My patients, to a woman, have all been opposed to the (new) guidelines," Schmidt, medical director of the St.Vincent Breast Program, recently told The Indianapolis Star. "I personally don't accept them. The major societies have not accepted them, and more importantly, my patients don't accept them."
Likewise, Schmidt doesn’t expect new research to show MRIs as a better way to screen women for breast cancer. A study at Dearborn County Hospital in Lawrenceburg is exploring whether MRIs, which are more sensitive and more expensive than mammograms, should become the norm. Schmidt sees breast MRIs as producing too many false positives and believes these are best used for high-risk patients. "The value of mammography is that it's relatively inexpensive," Schmidt told The Indianapolis Star. "Until there's a better technology, I don't think we should abandon what we have."
Read more about the Dearborn County Hospital study here: http://www.dch.org/news/June_18_2009.asp
Read more the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommendations here: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/USpstf/uspsbrca.htm#summary
Science Daily nbsp; Mar. 3, 2010
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