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Africa Cancer Care Inc (ACCI) responds to new mammography guidelines.

The only Cancer Prevention Organization committed to all preventable cancer with special focus on all people of African Heritage is alarmed at new mammography guidelines.  ACCI committed to cancer prevention among African Americans and the African continent.  ACCI plans to support the current mammography guidelines.

Africa Cancer Care Inc (ACCI), an organization devoted to propagating information on preventable cancers here in the US among minority populations and the continent of Africa is shocked at the recent screening guidelines for breast cancer.

ACCI are now just getting to the point where these women are beginning to take early screening seriously and asking for screening locations and availability of mammogram only to have new recommendations contradicting the need for mammography by age 40.  They should be working on developing mammogram capable of identifying abnormality in younger females with dense breast in order to help these susceptible young girls.

The current recommendation that women generally should undergo mammography every 2 years instead of annually also compounds the problem.  This new recommended guideline may be adequate for Caucasians and Hispanics; it certainly could mean a death sentence for many African American women and women in the continent. ACCI will continue to preach early screening, early detection for we know that’s the key to survival for all cancers.  They need to continue to encourage African Americans to undergo yearly mammography and to have their first mammogram by age 40.  Just  like prostate cancer where black men start screening earlier because of earlier occurrence and aggressive nature of disease in this population, black women should also initiate mammography earlier that their white counterparts.

Furthermore, the recommendation available for people with family history of colorectal cancer should also be extended to women with family history of breast cancer.  This group of women should start screening earlier in life even if screening only entails clinical screening.

Prevention and early detection is the only currently known guarantee for cure and survivorship. We have to stick to early mammograms and fight for it.  Insurance companies should continue to pay for this life saving procedure.  It is certainly cheaper than the alternative.

Source: ACCI

Discuss more about Mammography in the Mammography user group.