UNC joins health debate

UNC health officials have joined the ongoing debate regarding new guidelines that raise the recommended age for women to start mammogram screenings.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force announced earlier this week that women don’t need annual mammograms until they turn 50. That is 10 years older than the current medical standard for beginning the annual check-ups.

Many women and medical professionals are outraged over the new guidelines, saying that pushing back the age decreases the chances of detecting breast cancer early.

The recent change to the task force’s guidelines contradicts what many institutions and medical professionals have been teaching women for years.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer foundation, recommends beginning annual mammograms to screen for breast cancer at 40, and intends to keep those recommendations.

“Even this task force recognized that cancers were found early in women. This early detection is very important,” said Andrea Rader, spokeswoman for the foundation.

But Dr. Nortin Hadler, professor of medicine and microbiology/immunology at UNC, said that women need to ask themselves whether they benefit from annual mammograms.

Mammograms are not foolproof, he said.

“You’re likely to be called back for another mammogram and likely to have a biopsy. There are an awful lot of false positive biopsies,” Hadler said.

Dr. Etta Pisano, vice dean for academic affairs in the UNC School of Medicine, said she disagrees with the idea of telling women they don’t need a mammogram until they turn 50.

Pisano, who is known for her work in breast cancer diagnosis and radiology, said instead of using age as the determining factor for when women should start screenings, they should consider the physical makeup, particularly density, of their breasts.

Susan Kowalski, 62, of Southern Shores, waited to see a doctor at the UNC Breast Center on Wednesday. She said she has battled breast cancer more than once.

She was first diagnosed at 50, and the cancer did not previously show up on a mammogram. Fifty is too late to begin screenings because it reduces the chances of detecting breast cancer early, she said.

Abby Murnick, a senior in the School of Nursing from Raleigh, was also at the UNC Breast Center for a mammogram. If people care enough to get a breast exam, they shouldn’t wait until age 50, she said.

Both her mother and grandmother battled breast cancer.

“If my mom and grandma would have waited until they were 50, they would be dead,” Murnick said.



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