Lora D. Barke, D.O., medical director of the Invision Sally Jobe Breast, a network of medical imaging centers that offers full-service diagnostic imaging in several convenient Denver metro locations, is critical of new, revised, breast cancer screening guidelines issued Monday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).“This is really a step backward in the fight against breast cancer,” said Barke, who oversees one of the largest breast imaging centers in the nation. “We’ll end up diagnosing later stage cancer, which means more drug therapy, more radiation therapy and more late-stage intervention.”The new U.S. guidelines recommend against routine mammograms for women in their 40s. Barke, who oversees breast imaging services at Invision Sally Jobe’s network of 11 Denver metro imaging centers, believes the new guidelines will only lead to confusion, mistrust and avoidance of regular breast cancer screening for all women.”We’re sticking with current American Cancer Society screening recommendations, which rely on a much more careful and thorough examination of the evidence than does the USPSTF,” explained Barke.Barke said the USPSTF’s own evidence review concludes that mammography reduces the risk of dying in women in their 40s and 50s at about the same rate, and modern studies show that the risk of dying of breast cancer in women diagnosed in their 40s is reduced by 35 to 44 percent, not 15 percent as the USPSTF analysis reported.
