Task Force Clarifies Breast Cancer Screening...

Why do they have to use an article to "Clarify" their position on women breast health.  Why not use it on their web site under the standard of care for breast cancer testing?  I smell a cover up for their true intentions.

and fyi, look at the contact page of that website. They aren't even in the US.

Do they truly understand how the guidlines affect our insurance & medicare here?

Perhaps in other countries the guidlines aren't as big a deal as they are here in the US? I don't know.

Bren, you asked "why the wait to publish in November 2009?"

I have worked for 25 years preparing scientific/medical manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed journals (and have been a co-author on a few).  I am 100% certain that the release date of these guidelines was entirely due to the peer-review and editorial process at the Annals of Internal Medicine.  Three papers from the Task Force were published on Nov 17 in the current issue of Annals:

1) a summary of 6 computer models of the risks and benefits of mammography screening

2) a review of studies of the effectiveness of mammography screening

3) "guidelines" based on the above 2 papers

Also, an editorial discussing all 3 papers was published.

The process of peer-review of 3 papers takes many months -- as many as 12.  First drafts of these manuscripts were submitted to the Annals. If the process worked unusually fast, 2 or 3 months later the authors got the reviewers' comments. A month or two later (if the authors worked really fast, with great communication among multiple authors, and the reviewers hadn't asked for a lot more data to be addressed), the authors submitted revised manuscripts addressing the reviewers' comments.  Then there may have been a second round of reviewer comments, author revisions, re-review of the re-revised manuscripts.  Finally the papers were accepted, the multiple authors had to sign copyright agreement forms and Conflict of Interest disclosure forms, then proofs were made available, proof-read by the authors and approved, then the papers went into the publication queue (usually at least 2 months, up to 6 if a high-volume journal) -- and the contents of the papers were under "embargo" so that no word could be released until the publication date.  Somewhere in there, after acceptance of the 3 papers, the journal invited an editorial by an unrelated author.  The time-line involved writing, peer-reviewing, editing and proofing of the editorial as well.

AnnNYC...She is talking about the USPSTF own website where the standards of care are posted for all to see.  Here are the links:

http://www.ahrq.gov/CLINIC/uspstfix.htm

Here is the standards for breast screening from their website:

http://www.ahrq.gov/CLINIC/uspstf/uspsbrca.htm

I really don't understand how women who have had breast cancer can stand for these changes in the standard of care and support the bill that gives this power to the USPSTF who the bill gives the power to change these standards...especially when a massive amount of Dr. Surgeons, and Medical Associations say that this is going in the wrong direction and will cost women their lives!

AnnNYC  Thanks for pointing that information out.  Isn't the whole thing just mind-boggling idiotic how the government is treating it's citizens with the USPSTF..I.E. AHRQ  and their new "health care" bill?

I have called my Senators...but I know they will not listen because one of them is a co-signer for the bill.  I am so disgusted by all of this.  I used to vote Democrat...Now I vote for who is not the incumbent.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that there will be a lot of people getting NO health care...and I can't understand the blind faith in the democrats/party/Senator who support this bill not to see and understand that people will die without having routine screening done.  Is mammograms great?  No.  Should we try to find other testing?  Yes.  But until that day, we should use what we have which is mammograms because MRIs will not always see DCIS and are fairly cheap.

I don't understand why people are closed minded when you point out the information to them and still yell that we are attacking the Democrats...It isn't the Democrats it is this stupid bill and the USPSTF.  Another thing that I don't understand is why some people don't stand up against this, not for themselves, but for their children and grand children and friends who would be saved because of the defeating of this bill.