Military officials to stand by women’s testing guidelines

Military officials to stand by women’s testing guidelines
By Seth Robbins, Stars and Stripes
European edition,Friday, November 27, 2009

LANDSTUHL, Germany — Military medical officials say they will stick with their current guidelines for Pap smears and mammograms despite recent recommendations by physicians groups that women delay or reduce the frequency of tests for breast and cervical cancers.

Last week, a government task force announced that women should get their first mammogram at 50 and every two years afterward. But Dr. (Lt. Col.) Charles Tujo, head of radiology at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, said the hospital will uphold the long-standing position of the American Cancer Society that women receive mammograms annually starting at age 40.

Younger women are more susceptible to aggressive forms of breast cancer, which means not getting a mammogram is risky, Tujo said.

"The older a woman gets, the less aggressive the cancer," Tujo said. "So, while we want to pick up all cancers, I’m more concerned about that 42-year-old to get her cancer because that’s the one that might kill her."

In an unrelated report, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists changed its position that women should have a Pap smear annually, recommending instead that the tests be given every two years for women in their 20s.


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