Doctors Hope Breast Cancer Survival Rates Increase With New Screening Guidelines

With new guidelines for mammogram screenings, doctors hope survival rates for breast cancer get better.

As more data comes out regarding breast cancer, there's been debate about what age is best to start screening, and some governing bodies are changing their minds.

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force now strongly recommends women start to get mammograms at 40. That same panel of experts used to say women could choose to start screening that early, but only strongly recommended the exams when women turned 50.

Tulsa Breast Surgeon Oncologist Dr. Clint Merritt agrees with the change. He said the earlier you screen and catch breast cancer, the better your survival rate will be.

"We want to make sure if something's starting, we are catching it early. And the earlier detection means usually smaller tumors, less chance of it spreading throughout the body, which means much more treatable and survivable breast cancer," Dr. Merritt said.

Dr. Merritt also hopes these new guidelines for screening will mean better communication between doctors and patients about breast cancer, both here locally and all over the country.

"We tend to see a later diagnosis for problems related to cancer because of poor screening, and so a lot of it is communication with not only doctors to patients or providers to patients, but also from patients to patients," Dr. Merritt said.

Dr. Merritt hopes these new guidelines will encourage more women in Green Country to start getting screened earlier for breast cancer.