Video Q&A about the Evolution of the Breast Cancer Clinic

Is there an upper age limit (seniors) where the requirement for a mamogram is not required or limited to xxx number of years between mamograms???

A few years ago I was told by my primary doctor that I didn't need mammograms as often now that I was in my 70s. At 79 I discovered the lump myself and had to have my right breast and 10 lymph nodes removed. When I told my oncologist what the PD said, she was horrified. She said if anyone needs mammograms more often, it's older women. So don't let anyone tell you you don't need them. You do!

Thank you for sharing your experience. I wonder if primary doctors are still advising no need and after what age? Does this still happen?

Thank you @islandelder for sharing. I am a male but I have women in my family. It can be disheartening to follow the instructions from your PD and they give you the wrong information that could have cost you your life.

I don't know. I hope not. Older women need to be educated about this, so I'm hoping organizations like the Cancer Society are doing just that.

It's hard to believe it happens. I fully trusted my doctor and his wife, who was my nurse practitioner/gynecologist, so it came as a real shock when it turned out they were wrong and I should have been having mammograms. I went for three years without one.

My cancer didn’t show up on the mammogram. It was detected on an ultrasound, how often does this happen?

What is the % of recurrence with HER2 positive cancer?

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Dublee, audio should be working now.

There were two schools of thought, which made it confusing for primary physicians, but this is from one website at Harvard.edu. You can see the inconsistency:
"The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends mammograms every other year for women ages 50 to 74, but says there's not enough evidence to recommend regular mammogram screenings in women ages 75 and older.

Because the frequency and age ranges for testing vary by organization, it can be hard to know which recommendation to follow. Dr. Smith goes by the American Cancer Society guidelines, advising all of her female patients age 40 and older to have annual mammograms.

Should you stop having mammograms after age 75, as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends? "If anything, the risk of breast cancer goes up every year a woman is alive," Dr. Smith says. "To say that you stop checking at 75, when the average life expectancy of a woman in this country is in the mid-80s, doesn't make sense to me." As long as you're healthy enough to tolerate a lumpectomy under local anesthesia—should you need it—Dr. Smith recommends that you continue to get annual mammograms in your 70s and beyond."
https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/do-you-need-mammograms