The U.S. preventive task force, a body whose recommendations govern the coverage of screening tests for Medicare and many insurance companies came out recently with changed guidelines for mammography and breast cancer screening for women, which indeed caused quite an uproar among many women nationwide.

The standard long standing position, which had been pushed by the American cancer society was a mammogram annually from the age 40, but in a stunning reversal, the panel recommended that women should wait till the age of 50 and then only do it every two years.
While this raised a lot of concerns among breast cancer advocates, the worry among diabetes practitioners and their patients was that it was going to create massive confusion, and that the guidelines risked alienating many women who in the confusion would probably just not get the exam.

It has been noted in recent history that many women with diabetes routinely skip mammograms , women have so much in terms of their diabetes management that it was seen as an unnecessary and invasive procedure and am sure that the news may not help in reversing the trend.

I must say that the American cancer society came out strongly against the new guidelines and experts dully expected the revisions to be greatly debated and cause some confusion among women.

Advancement in modern medicine has made it easier and less invasive for mammograms in recent history, the use of digital mammography as opposed to conventional mammography is one such step.

“Digital (computerized) mammography is similar to standard mammography in that x-rays are used to produce detailed images of the breast. Digital mammography uses essentially the same mammography system as conventional mammography, but the system is equipped with a digital receptor and a computer instead of a film cassette. Several studies have demonstrated that digital mammography is at least as accurate as standard mammography.” (from imaginis)

An admonishing factor remains however which is that  Women with type 2 diabetes may have a slightly increased risk of breast cancer.

The conclusion by the government panel of doctors and scientists  that getting screened for breast cancer so early on and too often does more harm than good, Causing too many false positives and unnecessary biopsies which in some is seen as a deterrent than an improved odd to surviving the disease leaves much ado to be desired.

While Diabetes does not significantly influence mammographic breast density, it still means that yes  breast cancer risk may be increased among women with diabetes.

It is equivocal to note that breast cancer is not just a woman’s disease anymore.

According to recent figures by  the American cancer society as many as 440 men will die of breast cancer  and as many as 1910 will contract the disease this year and while the prognosis in surviving breast cancer in men is just as good as in women. Currently there lacks a definitive study of breast cancer prevalence and risk factors among diabetic men.

So the proverbial question remains with this knowledge and suppositions, is it then not necessary to conclude that mammograms and breast cancer self examination should be included in the routine diabetes management and preventive practices of  diabetics who are under the age of 50?