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12:32

OncoLink - Welcome to today's OncoLink Brown Bag Chat on Women's Health in the News. We'll get started with a questions submitted ahead of time, but feel free to type your questions anytime.

12:34

[Comment From Guest ]
I have heard the concern for mammos under 40 is the “false positive rate”- what does this mean?

12:35

CVachani - A false positive is when the mammogram finds an abnormality that results in the woman having more tests (additional mammo, ultrasound and /or biopsy). Ultimately, these tests determine that there is no cancer, so the original test was wrong in being positive. The concern is that mammogram has many false positive results and women are exposed to additional radiation (from mammo), possible a surgical procedure (biopsy), pain with that procedure and stress and anxiety over waiting for results.

12:36

[Comment From Guest ]
Why do the guidelines now say don’t do breast self exam? My sister had breast cancer and found it by doing self exam and best of all it doesn’t cost a thing! Self exams can save womens lives- Right??? "stress" is a reason not to???

12:37

CVachani - Unfortunately, the self-exam issue has been misrepresented in the media. The USPTF guidelines do not say to not perform breast self exam, they actually say that practitioners should not teach BSE (breast self exam). The reason they say this is that studies found that women who were taught BSE were no better at finding abnormalities than those who weren’t taught. In addition, a several studies found no benefit in survival for the group receiving instruction versus the un-taught group. Studies have also found that women who were taught BSE had more false positives (required a biopsy that did not find any cancer).

12:37

[Comment From Guest ]
What exactly are the guidelines for pap testing now?

12:38

Christina Chu, MD - The new guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend screening for cervical cancer
1) to start at age 21
2) between the ages of 21 and 29, women should have paps every 2 years
3) after the age of 30, women who have had 3 consecutive normal paps can have pap testing every 3 years.

Women with risk factors (HIV infection, immunosuppression due to organ transplant, those who were exposed to DES in utero, and those who have a history of mild to moderate dysplasia) should continue to have yearly paps.

12:39

[Comment From Guest ]
What are the numbers for false positives- i.e. what percent of women who get further testing or a biopsy don’t have cancer?

12:40

Dr. Robert Prosnitz - About 90-95% of women with abnormalities seen on screening mammograms do not actually have breast cancer. In other words, if you have a "positive" screening mammogram, the chances are about 9/10 that you DO NOT have breast cancer.

12:43

[Comment From Guest ]
What is the downside to being overcautious and getting paps younger? Besides the discomfort, of course : )

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