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 TAMPA, Fla. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Terri and JoEllen Warnke spend each Thursday together. JoEllen is a nurse, and Terri's a volunteer.
The two are also mother and daughter.
"Not only is she mom, but she is my best friend," JoEllen says. "Recently -- in the last year -- she is a patient of mine. So it's even a stronger bond."
Terri is a breast cancer survivor. Her cancer was caught by a mammogram, not by feel. She started annual mammograms at age 50, but because of JoEllen's family history, she will start younger -- at 35.
"I'll get my first mammogram and then continue yearly mammograms at age 40," JoEllen says.
Routine mammography used to begin at age 50, but now it's recommended for women to start at 40. A new study reveals the benefits and risks of having mammograms 10 years earlier and shows those yearly mammograms save 235 lives for every 100,000 women. But radiation-induced breast cancer will actually kill 22 of every 100,000 women.
 "There's a risk," Benjamin Djulbegovic, M.D., Ph.D., an oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., tells Ivanhoe. "There's no doubt about that. Experts may disagree about how high is that risk, but certainly it's not zero."
Dr. Djulbegovic authored the study, which appeared in the December 2006 issue of The Lancet. He says women need to be aware of the radiation risk. "Even minimal radiation can cause certain damage. In this particular case, [it] can cause radiation-induced breast cancer that can lead to death."
 Despite the warnings, Moffitt Cancer Center breast oncologist Christine Laronga, M.D., hopes the study will not keep women from getting mammograms. She says mammography is the gold standard when it comes to catching breast cancer early.
"Survival is all about the stage you catch it at, so the earlier you can get it, the better your survival," she tells Ivanhoe.
JoEllen has made her decision. "I believe the risks of breast cancer are much higher in my situation than the risk of radiation exposure," she says.
...And experts maintain that each woman needs to decide for herself.
Not sure what's right for you? The National Cancer Institute has an online breast cancer risk assessment tool where you answer a list of questions to determine your individual risk for breast cancer. You can find it at http://www.cancer.gov/bcrisktool.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Moffitt Cancer Center
10441 University Center Dr.
Tampa, FL 33612
Cancer Answers Line
(800) 456-7121
http://www.moffitt.org
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