New Guidelines

As a young woman I have been taught many things by my parents and my doctors. From an early age I remember my mother dreading the awful mammogram appointment but never missing her appointment for it was for her health. Granted my mother is not a spring chicken she still knew she needed to go to be an excellent example for her daughters.
The medical societies and groups who set medical standards had a standard of women getting a mammogram yearly starting at forty and cervical exams starting at eighteen or after becoming sexually active. Now within a single week new professional medical “studies” have been published that severely changes the guidelines so many of us women understand and try to follow religiously. A federal advisory board made a controversial recommendation that women begin routine mammograms at age fifty, rather than at forty. ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) would change it from eighteen to twenty-one for a cervical cancer screening or a Pap test.
I understand that yes we are in a recession, and money is tight for everyone in every different aspect but aren’t we putting women’s health at risk. Preventative health care is cheaper and safer in the long run, by preserving lives.
“The new guidelines, announced this week by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), contradict the long-held advice of organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which recommend that women begin getting annual mammograms at forty” this federal advisory board also says that Most women in their forties should not routinely get mammograms, unless there is a family history, women from fifty to seventy four should get a mammogram every other year instead of every year and that the value is breast self-exams have no value and shouldn’t be taught The USPSTF guidelines cause confusion and bring to mind of possible political accusations of health care rationing. For awhile this group sided and agreed with other medical associations but this change in policy leaves doctors confused in which policy to follow. Many doctors disagree with these new guidelines for many patients within their forties have had breast cancer caught by mammogram findings, and caught early enough for various forms of treatment and less aggressive procedures.
“The government panel of doctors and scientists concluded that getting screened for breast cancer so early and so often leads to too many false alarms and unneeded biopsies without substantially improving women's odds of survival.”
As a woman I think a false alarm would be less detrimental to your health, instead of finding out you actually have breast cancer and it has become advanced.
I am not paranoid but just a few days after the USPSTF released their new guidelines there was another round of changing guidelines. This time around it was ACOG changing the guidelines on cervical cancer screening. The “timing of cervical and breast cancer screening guidelines is called coincidence”.
The ACOG new guidelines are accordingly; after age twenty-one women should have a Pap test every two years instead of every year, women thirty and older can be examined once every three years but it may still be appropriate for women to visit their doctor annually for a pelvic exam. Their previous guidelines ACOG had recommended that women receive their first test three years after having sex for the first time, or no later than age twenty-one with annual checkups after that.
ACOG's revisions reflect a trend toward a more conservative approach to managing the cervical abnormalities that sometimes lead to cancer. So now instead being pro-preventative they are hoping for an occasionally preventative test that will catch cancer before serious administration care is needed.
The ACOG's recommendations come less than a week after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the panel who released new guidelines for breast cancer screening the federal government. The task force recommended that women begin mammograms at age fifty instead of forty and decrease the frequency thereafter.
By changing its guidelines, ACOG is breaking ranks with the other main authorities on cervical cancer. The American Cancer Society and the USPSTF both recommend that women get their first Pap test within three years of having sex, or by age twenty-one.
The doctors for ACOG say that less frequent screening for cervical cancer will still catch abnormalities that lead to cancer. However these just doesn’t sit well with me, less frequent
However some Doctors, patients and lawmakers argue that this the revised recommendation combined with the changing of mammogram standards saying this might be the first step toward health care rationing. Others think it's another attempt by the government to cut costs on preventative medicine. Both of these ideas mean less preventative care and more costly administration costs in the long run.
Many people, doctors and cancer survivors are upset about the new guidelines for they might prevent the sick from receiving life-saving treatment in time, if their cancer goes undetected for years. Cervical cancer is a slow forming but within the supposed time frame that ACOG suggests pre-cancer cells can transform into cancer cells. In addition breast cancer is a fickle disease, the speed and type of cancer often widely differs, and exams that occur every other year might prove too late to catch it before serious intervention is needed.


Kristen Kendall