November 16, 2015 – Breast Screening

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Anchor lead: What do the new breast screening guidelines mean for you?  Elizabeth Tracey reports

The American Cancer Society has followed the lead of the United States Preventive Services Task Force and modified breast screening guidelines, resulting in fewer breast examinations for most.  Ben Park, a breast cancer expert at Johns Hopkins, explains the changes.

Park: We look at guidelines, data that’s come up, and try and actually think, are they still relevant?  It’s always easier to suggest doing more screening.  I think it’s a much harder thing to do what they’re proposing, to say, let’s peel back a little bit because we’re really not sure.  Part of that may be that we are worried in this field, both breast cancer, prostate cancer, that we’re overdiagnosing, overtreating, overtesting, but I think its going to be a real difficult sell if you will for patients and physicians to stop doing something that we’ve been doing for at least 10 if not 15 or 20 years.   :33

Park says every woman should discuss her own breast cancer risk with her provider.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.