Upheaval: A panel of experts recommends bringing up breast cancer mammography to age 40 – and here's why

Even earlier diagnosis of breast cancer: an extensive panel of experts in the United States has updated its recommendations and recommended that the mammography examination for the detection of malignant tumors in the breast should be carried out earlier from the age of 40, once every two years, until the age of 74. This is an independent team of volunteer experts that helps determine health policy and the decisions of doctors and insurance companies. The new guidelines were published in the prestigious medical journal JAMA.

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The current guidelines, published in 2016, state that in women who are not at high risk, a mammogram must be performed every two years from the age of 50. However, in recent years there has been a significant decrease in the age of breast cancer in women. The American expert panel that reviewed 20 clinical studies, found that the rate of breast cancer cases in women aged 40 to 49 increases by 2% every year. These findings led to the new recommendations that, as mentioned above, advance the age of mammography to 40.

Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease in women in Israel, and the second most common in the United States after skin cancer. One in every 8 women will develop a malignant breast tumor during her lifetime. Breast cancer is also the second most common cause of cancer death after lung cancer. According to the expert panel's estimates, the early The mammogram may save 20% more women.

In Israel, there is a screening program for the early detection of breast cancer through mammography, under which it is recommended that all women aged 50 to 75 undergo a mammogram once every two years. The mammogram, which uses X-rays, remains the main early diagnostic tool. In cases where a tumor is suspected, the woman is also sent, as needed, for an ultrasound examination of the breast, and an MRI examination, with the final diagnosis being made through a biopsy.

However, the new guidelines draw sharp criticism from experts who claim that the mammogram test is not accurate in young women, and that the decrease in the screening age will lead to incorrect findings, unnecessary tests, and anxiety among the women being tested.

"In recent years, there has indeed been a decrease in the age at which young women are diagnosed, for reasons that are still unclear," agrees Dr. Ayelet Shay, director of the breast unit at the Rambam Medical Center, "there are still no studies that have clearly shown that advancing the age of mammography saves more lives and reduces mortality. The direction today is To carry out tests according to the risk factors, and this is also what happens in Israel: women with a family history of breast cancer at a young age, fertility treatments, giving birth at a late age or a lump in the breast, undergo early tests. Any such woman with risk factors should be examined by a doctor."

These are the red flags to look out for:

in breast:
• Change in shape or size
• Dilated or bulging veins
• A depression or bump in the skin
• Redness on the surface of the breast, regardless of breastfeeding, or an acute infection in the breast
• Stubborn itching that does not go away
• Discomfort or pain

In the nipple:
• Bloody or transparent discharge
• Rash on or around the nipple
• A nipple that has sunk in recently
• block

Underarm:
deep lump