MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas — Women are now being asked to get their mammogram screenings sooner. The U.S Preventative Services Task Force has lowered their age recommendation for women to get mammograms from 50 to 40.
- Dr. Erin Prince with the Ascension Providence Breast Health Center says 11 percent of breast cancers they detect, come from women in their 40’s.
- Central Texas Resident Adrienne Barry was diagnosed with Breast Cancer after a routine Mammogram. With early detection she was able to get treatment.
- McLennan County CHNA found 35% of McLennan County respondents have had a mammogram in the last year.
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“She said it was caught early in the early stages — so that was really good news. I was diagnosed with stage one ductal carcinoma,” Adrienne Barry said.
After a routine mammogram at Baylor Scott and White, Adrienne Barry was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021.
“Thank heavens you know, I didn’t progress as much, but I’ll make sure every year the month of my birthday that I go and get my mammogram done because it was caught early,” she said.
Barry is one of the lucky ones who started screening at age 40. That’s the age now recommended by the U.S Preventative Services Task Force for women to get breast screenings. Previously that age was 50.
“There’s certain groups of women, younger patients tend to have more aggressive cancer, there’s certain races as ell, a lot of times, black women will have more aggressive cancers,” Dr. Erin Prince said.
Dr. Erin Prince with the Ascension Providence Breast Health Center says 11 percent of breast cancers they detect, come from women in their 40’s.
“That gives us the chance, especially with the 3D mammograms that we do gives is the chance to detect their cancers earlier if we detect their cancer earlier, then that open up a lot more treatment options for them,” Dr. Prince said.
And because of that annual screening near her birthday, 58-year-old Barry now has more time with her friends, and family.
“If you catch it early, your success rate is so much higher and I mean, I’m living proof of it because they caught it fast," she said.
"They caught it soon, and I had surgery, did radiation, didn’t have to do chemo, and I’m cancer free because of it."
At Ascension Providence Breast Health Center, if women have insurance, Mammograms are completely covered, for women who are not covered by insurance, they have a Pink Partner Fund, and if you qualify, it's completely covered as well.
