CNN: The Imprecision Behind Mammogram Guidance (Carl Bialik)

This has been a huge controversy ever since it was announced. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a 16-doctor, federally funded panel, recommended that women in their 40s stop getting routine mammograms unless they were at an increased risk for developing breast cancer. Doctors and patients alike disagree with these findings.

What the task force found is that for every 1,900 40 year old women receiving mammograms, only one was saved due to the screenings. At the age of 50, one woman is saved for ever 1,300 mammograms. For women aged 40 - 69, 8 cancer deaths are averted for every 1,000 screenings, but 158 unnecessary biopsies are performed in the same amount of screenings. for women aged 50-60, the averted cancer death drops to 4.6 for every 1,000 screening, and unnecessary biopsies also drop to 42.

In my opinion, the statistical evidence is not compelling enough to deter women from receiving mammograms at the age of 40. I do not think that the Task Force has shown that there is a significant disadvantage in women getting mammograms at the age of 40, and also there is no way to quantify the peace of mind that many women get from having such annual screenings. Yes, there may be an undesirable unnecessary biopsy rate associated with mammograms, but honestly these numbers don't really seem to indicate a huge number of cancer deaths averted from mammograms at any age...so by that logic should we just stop giving mammograms all together? That really doesn't seem right.

It is difficult to make medicine into a numbers game. One life saved is good enough in the moral person's mind. Can you really put a value on one human life?

The Imprecision Behind Mammogram Guidance