Statement of The Rose Concerning ACS New Recommendations

At The Rose, we will continue to encourage women to have annual screenings starting no later than age 40. We concur with the "American College of Radiology (ACR) and Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) which continue to recommend that women get yearly mammograms starting at age 40."

We are deeply concerned that the recommendations released by the American Cancer Society will lead women to question the value of mammograms and the importance of early detection. 

Based on our clinical experience, we know women between the ages of 40 and 44 do benefit from screening. Over the past three years, 24% of all our diagnosed patients (398 of a total of 1659) were in the 40 to 49 year old range.  Of those 398 women, 173 fell in the 40-44 year old range.  But the most revealing and concerning statistic from our diagnosed population is that 40% of those in the 40-44 year old range were diagnosed at stage 2B and over—the majority of those had never had a mammogram or had not had annual screenings.

While we appreciate the process involved in ACS determining their new recommendations, we have to point out that the new ACS guidelines still support annual screening for women ages 40 to 44 who want it. 

Unfortunately, not every woman who wants a mammogram can have one, some battle against financial limitations and are not insured; others do not have a physician with whom they can discuss their risk factors and still others deal with no access to care because of transportation issues or lack of facilities offering mammography services—especially in areas of rural Texas. 

It should be noted that one-third of women who should be screened do not access these service, meaning that all necessary steps should be taken to ensure that women do not face economic or other barriers when their healthcare providers recommend screening. These recommendations provide more confusion and will incentivize insurance companies to not cover mammograms, which would mean that even fewer women would potentially be screened.

Based on our experience after 30 years of serving women, we absolutely believe that we must continue to encourage women to take care of themselves and have annual screenings.  We simply cannot afford to lose the ground we’ve gained over these many years with the advances in digital technology and widespread awareness.  Too many lives are at stake—especially young lives.  

Click here to read the ACR and SBI's response.