IU doctor outraged at new breast cancer guidelines

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - A panel of experts is going against decades of advice on mammograms. The federal panel recommends a mammogram by age 50.

Dr. Susan Love, of the Susan Love Foundation , believes it's a matter of allocating resources to the best kind of screening.

"It doesn't make sense to be putting our efforts into doing mammography screening in women under 50 when we can find better tools that will help more women and be more accurate."

The American Cancer Society , though, recommends getting a mammogram by age 40.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force also said self breast exams do no good and should not even be taught to women. The ACS recommends doing one once a month.

To say there has been a strong reaction to these new guidelines is an understatement.

Dr. Marie Swanson, of the IU Simon Cancer Center, who addressed the same issues in a paper she wrote 15 years ago, is furious.

"I think, to be crude about it, I think we're going to kill them," said Swanson. "I think that these guidelines, if followed, if women follow them, if health insurance companies grab them up, because let's face it there's an economic benefit to them, women will die."

The task force is made up of physicians and researchers.

Breast surgeon Dr. Robert Goulet said more debate is on the way. But he's sticking with the guidelines put out by the American Cancer Society.

A breast cancer patient, who understands the issues of money, agrees.

"That's a big utilization of available funds," said Mary Studley. "So I think a lot of what's driving this is this a useful thing to do with the money we have to spend on healthcare and personally, I say yes."

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the U.S., with 192,000 new cases and 40,000 deaths expected this year.