There was quite a stir last year, when the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended women receive mammograms beginning at age 50 and every other year after that. The advice contrasted with that of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which had long recommended mammograms beginning at age 40 and annually thereafter.

Women may have breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of reprieve; but the reality is that almost a year after the task force statement, mammograms are down 15 percent locally — even though the rate of occurrence in those screened is the same.

“Basically those numbers mean that we’re still finding breast cancer in women at the same rate; but because fewer women are now being screened regularly, the cancer will grow to a stage where it is less treatable the next time a woman comes in for a mammogram,” said David Faddis, MD, a surgical oncologist who has been treating breast cancer patients for 30 years.

The good news is that most insurance companies will still cover an annual mammogram. Also, with the onset of digital mammography, the ability of doctors to find early-stage breast cancer — when it’s most treatable — has increased.

“I’m an optimist when it comes to breast cancer because it is very responsive to treatment,” Faddis said. “If we catch it early before it spreads to the lymph nodes, breast cancer can be treated surgically and women are less likely to need chemotherapy. That’s important because chemo is one of the big  fear factors for most people.”

According to the 2009 Annual Cancer Report published by the cancer committee at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, 66 percent of breast cancer in Benton, Lincoln and Linn counties is diagnosed at Stage 0 or Stage 1, before it has reached the lymph nodes. According to Faddis, the cure rate for ductal carcinoma in situ (the most common type of breast cancer) approaches 100 percent.

“Breast cancer is not a disease of health,” Faddis said. “There are few practical options to prevent it, even with familial breast cancer. A woman’s best chance is a mammogram. If we find breast cancer early, the chances of a cure are very, very good.”