Kate Watt, executive director of Susan G. Komen Florida, says the organization believes in early detection and women having their mammograms.
"It's like a 92 percent success rate if we catch it early and treat it early in surviving breast cancer. Susan G. Komen recommends annual mammograms after 40. We know that early screening and detection is our best defense in the fight against breast cancer. the earlier we can detect it the better success we will have in treating the breast cancer," she says.
She does not agree with the latest recommendation from the American College of Physicians. It recommends women with no history of breast cancer and no genetic mutations that raise their risk to start mammograms at age 50, instead of 40.
It also only recommends mammograms every other year up to age 74.
Dr. Jon Rosensweig says early detection is key, "The problem is whether you screen every year if over diagnosis is an issue because whatever is there this year will be there next year and if we were going to call it this year we would call it next year. It's still going to be diagnosed, but it's going to be diagnosed a year later and therefore the risk of death will be higher and if it actually is cancer the treatment will be more extensive."
