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New Research, Task Force Differ Over Mammogram Age

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- New research shows younger women are still getting mammograms even though a federal task force recommends differently.

In 2009, the Preventative Services Task Force recommended against annual mammograms for women at average risk for breast cancer between the ages of 40 and 49.

Now, a new study out of Brigham and Women's Hospital shows mammography rates for women in their 40s have not dropped.

Many groups, including the American Cancer Society, still recommend women start annual mammograms at 40.

Some doctors say while early testing could lead to unnecessary biopsies, the risk is worth the benefit.

"The cancers that mammograms pick up are the early cancers, the noninvasive cancers that are very curable, " Roosevelt Hospital's Paul Tartter said.

The American Cancer Society estimates about 232,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed this year in women.

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