--- title: Mammogram Screening Advice: Doctors Don't Agree description: Different health groups have different recommendations about who should get screened for breast cancer. And the even doctors are divided or which advice to follow canonical: https://time.com/4731745/even-doctors-dont-agree-about-breast-cancer-screening/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-10T15:52:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:15.756Z article:section: Health og:title: Mammogram Screening Advice: Doctors Don't Agree og:description: Different health groups have different recommendations about who should get screened for breast cancer. And the even doctors are divided or which advice to follow og:url: https://time.com/4731745/even-doctors-dont-agree-about-breast-cancer-screening/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta959496dac4e00e6/6988c1f3fb4eac30c58916e2/gettyimages-200410227-0013.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5146 og:image:height: 2895 og:image:alt: Woman pointing to area on mammogram x-ray, close-up og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mammogram Screening Advice: Doctors Don't Agree twitter:description: Different health groups have different recommendations about who should get screened for breast cancer. And the even doctors are divided or which advice to follow twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta959496dac4e00e6/6988c1f3fb4eac30c58916e2/gettyimages-200410227-0013.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most Doctors' Breast Cancer Advice May Be Out of Date > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. 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It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=952a4671-80f0-4c55-878f-be4ffeaf1d91&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Choosing to Wait: A New Approach to Treating Breast Cancer at Its Earliest Stages [Watch (HLS stream): Choosing to Wait: A New Approach to Treating Breast Cancer at Its Earliest Stages](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qPQnIqEX.m3u8) (5:56)  _Published 2015-10-01. Colletti, 60, was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), also known as Stage 0 breast cancer, in April 2014. But rather than immediately having surgery, Colletti opted for a new form of alternative treatment: active surveillance._  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 10, 2017 3:52 PM UTC  date created: 2005:09:30 | release references: MR17.jpg, MR19.jpg | release status: MR\_PR | date created: 2006:06:09 date created: 2005:09:30 | release references: MR17.jpg, MR19.jpg | release status: MR\_PR | date created: 2006:06:09 Lester Lefkowitz—Getty Images  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 10, 2017 3:52 PM UTC Who needs a mammogram—and when? These are questions that have vexed women for years now as science—and the recommendations it informs—has shifted. In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) advised that most women should [start getting regular mammograms at age 50, rather than at age 40](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1939896,00.html?iid=sr-link3), prompting some groups to change their official guidelines, even as others kept their advice the same. Today, confusion persists—and women may not be getting much clarity at the doctor’s office, either. In a new study [published in _JAMA Internal Medicine_](http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.0453), researchers found that 81% of the doctors recommended mammography to women aged 40 to 44 and 88% recommended it to women aged 45 to 49 years—advice that goes against the latest federal recommendations. Dr. Archana Radhakrishnan, clinical research fellow in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and her colleagues analyzed data from 2,000 doctors in the Breast Cancer Social Networks study, a national survey of primary care, internal medicine and family medicine physicians and gynecologists. They found that gynecologists were more likely than other physicians to recommend screening for women in their 40s — their professional physicians organization is one that continues advising women to get screened starting in their 40s. Ironically, 23% said they trusted the USPSTF guidelines more than other breast-cancer screening recommendations. “Doctors reported trusting a particular guideline, but then recommended screening more frequently than the guideline,” says Radhakrishnan. “What that highlights is that we still have a ways to go to understand what challenges doctors are facing when they implement clinical guidelines into practice.” Those factors may include things like malpractice fears, if they don’t recommend screening and breast cancer is missed, she says. The disconnect may also reflect a bigger challenge in dismantling a long-standing conventional wisdom, even when such a change is supported by science. For decades, the response to cancer was that more is better — more screening means more cancer can be detected, and therefore treated, earlier. But recent reviews of the studies show that with breast cancer, more screening does not, in fact, save lives. What’s more, doctors and patients also have to weigh the risks of false positives, the harms that can come with over-treatment, not to mention the psychological stress and anxiety of a positive mammogram. Understanding that not all cancer needs to be treated immediately, but that some cancers can be monitored until they need treatment, is another major change that not all doctors are comfortable with yet. The findings point out that while the recommendations about breast cancer screening continue to evolve, so too do doctors’, and patients’ decisions about screening. For now, most health groups are learning toward a more personalized approach, encouraging a discussion between women and their doctors about how much screening is right for them. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] One of the best things about my job is that I see patients who have a potentially lethal diagnosis and I'm able to be part of what allows them to be cured of their disease. The flip side is that one of the least rewarding experiences I have Of. And when I see a patient who is so fearful and so not at peace with her own body that she feels that she has to do extraordinary things to be free of her anxiety of breast cancer. [ MUSIC ] My daughter's initial reaction was, [ MUSIC ] Mom, if it was me I'd take it out. You just get rid of it. My husband and I did a ton of research, and we reviewed studies, and all the information out there, and decided that really we don't have to have surgery. That it's not life- threatening, and I'll probably die from something else. [ MUSIC ] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] So if you would If you felt a nodule or [ INAUDIBLE ] I'm fortunate to be on the early side of things where most of the patients I see have very early, very treatable problems and I think that's how I got interested in DCIS, because of all the so- called cancers that we diagnose now, DCIS is the very earliest form. [ MUSIC ] Active surveillance is very new. And for many people, both on the physician's side and the patient's side, it's a scary proposition. I'm certainly not condoning it for everyone. I'm not recommending that everyone with DCIS follow a path of active surveillance. But I think it should be considered in the context of all the options that patients have. All of us have different comfort levels of how far we're willing to go to be sure we don't die of this and that other disease. But we all die of something. And we can't prevent everything. [ MUSIC ] So in April of 2014 I was diagnosed with DCIS. When they gave me the diagnosis I initially felt a lot of dread, got sick to my stomach and just thought oh no so what is this going to lead to. My daughter's initial reaction was, mom, if it was me, I'd take it out. And that was initially how she felt until we discussed it. And when we talked about the risks of surgery and radiation treatments, and some of the things that can happen with that, and the fact that these are pre- cancerous cells that may just sit there and never do anything. She came around. So, DCIS stands for ductal carcinoma in situ. And the in situ part is that the cells, the abnormal cells are contained within the ducts of the breast Once the cells break out of the ducts its called an invasive cancer, and those are the cancers that can spread to the lymph nodes and can spread to other parts of the body and eventually cause mortality. [ SOUND ] There have been a couple of very important studies that have been published lately which have shown that for the very low risk DCIS Whether you ever operate on them, whether you do a lumpectomy or whether you do a mastectomy, the patients are equally likely to not die of breast cancer. So removing both your breasts at that phase really doesn't help a woman to live longer. And I feel that for some of those patients They see mastectomy as being a way to rid themselves of anxiety. And that makes me sad. I think there are much better ways to reduce anxiety than to do a pretty major operation after which you're never really going to be the same. And the side effects that patients have in terms of discomfort with themselves. Never feeling like they're whole again. A lot of the work that I do in clinic is being with patients at probably one of the most vulnerable and scary times of their lives. And to be part of that process and to see patients through that is incredibly rewarding. The initial fear that you have I think is just because you don't know what's going to happen, but you know if you read the studies And you look at the information out there, I don't feel afraid at all. I feel great about my decision. If options were given to women, more women would choose active surveillance, but because there's no options out there, people don't know to even ask. 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