Over 40? Expert Says Get Annual Mammogram

The American College of Physicians has said that women in their 40s do not necessarily need to have a mammogram each year, but should get one periodically instead.

They say women younger than 50 should decide with their doctors, based on their risk for breast cancer, how often they need to undergo a mammogram.

But critics including the American Cancer Society and breast cancer surgeon Dr. Michele Blackwood think this recommendation is a big step backwards and can lead to cancer going undetected.

"In fact, women who get a screening mammogram every year between the ages of 40 and 49 will lower their risk of dieing from breast cancer by up to 25 percent," she told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm. "That's a life-saver. That means mammograms still save lives."

The American College of Physicians says that mammograms can be risky and can cause women to undergo unnecessary biopsies.

"Mammograms are very, very low-risk procedure," Dr. Blackwood said. "There's minimal discomfort with them. It only takes about 10 minutes to do both breasts and there's very little downside to it. I don't see the downside they're talking about and they actually didn't prove it in their paper. Some women may undergo a biopsy after that mammogram ... but we'll learn a lot of information about that woman's true risk of breast cancer from that pathology."

Dr. Blackwood, who is also the medical director of the Connie Dwyer Breast Cancer Center, said that the risk for breast cancer increases over the age of 50, but 25 percent of women with breast cancer are under 50.

"Let's not leave those women out of this," she said.

Dr. Blackwood worries that this recommendation has undermined good work done by the American Cancer society.

"I thought we already won the battle that mammograms yearly save lives for women over 40," she said. "Now I think we'll have to go back out and start that all over again."

The bottom line, she says, is that women over 40 should get a mammogram every year.