Mammography

On Friday I received a letter from the X-ray center I went to last year to have my first mammogram. My gynecologist recommended it to me because I felt my dense tissue in the breast area. On that visit he self-examined me and said: “I don't feel anything. But, to be sure that everything is fine, I'm going to send you to do a mammogram”. The result came negative. He had no abnormalities, no masses or cysts in his breast. So, she said, “Since you have no family history of breast cancer, I recommend that you have a mammogram every two years. That, yes, to feel any mass or different sensation in the breast, come see me”. I have to wait another year to get the test, but I monitor myself periodically doing a breast self-exam.

However, a debate recently erupted in the United States when a group of experts recommended that women have their first mammogram starting at age 50, not 40, as previously established. According to the United States Preventive Services Commission, the agency that made the recommendation, there are more negative effects than positive ones when a woman begins to have these

routine exams at an early age. Among them, they noted biopsies that create anxiety or invasive treatments that may be unnecessary. This excludes the group considered high risk (with family history, abnormalities, etc.)

However, health organizations and medical groups disagreed with these recommendations because they assure that both mammograms and self-exams are tests that have saved the lives of women -and also men-, when cancer has been detected at an early stage..

Given this, what gynecologists, oncologists and the United States Secretary of Health, Kathleen Sebelius, recommended is to talk to the doctor, ask him how often you should have a mammogram, at what age you should start and check your family history. Each case is individual. Ask your doctor what is best for your health.