Health experts pan cancer report

Local breast-health commentators and experts this week criticized a recent report from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which suggested that women between age 40 and 49 who have no personal or family history of cancer don’t need mammograms.

“They communicated, in an odd and confusing way, a message that appears to say that we shouldn’t have mammograms for women under the age of 50, and today, particularly in California, we believe it should start at 40,” said Lisa Wolter, executive director of the Orange County affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, based in Costa Mesa.

Part of a nationwide foundation whose mission is to fight breast cancer, Komen’s county affiliate hosted a forum Wednesday. The panel featured medical experts discussing potential setbacks to mammogram services for women.

Panelists took aim at the report, which stated there isn’t enough evidence showing that self-examination is an effective way to monitor for breast cancer.

Dr. Lisa Guerra, a breast surgeon at Newport Beach’s Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, said she is uneasy about this finding.

She said she recently treated two women who detected their cancer through self examination. The doctor says she doesn’t pressure women to examine themselves for lumps in the breasts if this makes them more anxious.

But, in her opinion, learning how to do a self-examination is necessary.

The panel also talked about an imminent setback that would affect low-income, uninsured and underinsured women who receive free mammograms through the state-funded Every Woman Counts cancer detection program.

Beginning Jan. 1, the state will freeze program enrollment through July 1, and has raised the eligibility age range from 40 and older to 50 and older.

Rhonda Folsom, Orange County Cancer Detection Partnership program supervisor at the county’s health care agency, said the state had to make some difficult decisions.

“This is purely financial,” she said. “Last year, the state went over budget in clinical services, and they decided that the only way to help the situation is to change the eligibility and suspend enrollment.”

According to Komen’s Orange County chapter, the Every Woman Counts program helps pay for about 270,000 mammograms screening each year, with 77,000 women younger than 50.

The foundation is lobbying against the changes, and has succeeded in getting 21 Congressional representatives to sign a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, urging him to reconsider any program cuts or freezes.

It is estimated that by the end of this year, 21,700 women in California will have been diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 4,000 will lose their battle.

There are other options for women who will no longer qualify for screening under the Every Woman Counts program beginning Jan. 1, if the state goes through with the cuts.

The American Breast Cancer Foundation and Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Fund are among those that offer mammograms.

“... All agree that mammograms do save lives for women 40 to 49 and women over 50. They (the task force) felt (that) the risks are higher than the benefits,” said Chris Tannous, president of Komen’s county affiliate. “We are still sticking to annual mammograms for women age 40 and above for average risk.”