Cancer survivor touts benefits of early mammograms

April 07-- Apr. 7--SOUTH YARMOUTH -- For months now, Kerianne Leidenfrost has been spreading the word on social media about the importance of getting a mammogram by age 40.

The imaging used to detect breast cancer caught her cancer and may have saved her life, Leidenfrost said.

The mother of two children, ages 6 and 9, and a dispatcher for the Eastham Police Department, Leidenfrost said she had not given much thought to breast cancer detection.

But once she turned 40, the nurse practitioner at her obstetrician/gynecologist's office told her it was time.

The mammogram at Cuda Women's Health Center in Hyannis detected a suspicious cluster in her right breast that a biopsy confirmed was cancerous, Leidenfrost said.

After an MRI also found lumps in her left breast, Leidenfrost had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery Jan. 29.

There was "no chemotherapy or radiation because it was caught so early," Leidenfrost said.

She said she tells women in person and on social media to have their first mammogram by age 40.

"Get in there. Don't prolong it because it totally changes the outcome," Leidenfrost said.

The issue of whether women should get their first mammogram by 40 has spurred some controversy among cancer researchers and physicians.

American Cancer Society guidelines say women age 40 to 44 "should have the choice to start annual breast cancer screening with mammograms ... if they wish to do so."

The Cancer Society says women age 45 to 54 should get mammograms every year, switching to every two years at age 55. But even there, the society hems a bit, saying older women "can continue yearly screening."

But Dr. Kathryn Dalton, medical director of women's health and high-risk breast cancer at Cape Cod Healthcare, said physician organizations across the nation, including the American College of Radiology and American Society of Breast Surgeons, take a more preventative approach.

"All of us agree mammography should be started at age 40 and be done on an annual basis," Dalton said.

As women age, the decision to have an annual screening should take into consideration health and life expectancy issues, Dalton said.

A healthy elderly woman who is playing golf every day could benefit from an annual screening, which might not be as important for a 70-year-old woman with life-limiting illnesses, Dalton said.

A study published in 2017 by the journal Cancer "suggests that starting annual screening mammograms at age 40 would save more lives than other mammogram recommendations," according to the non-profit organization breastcancer.org.

The caveat is that starting annual screening at 40 also would lead to more false positives, according to breastcancer.org.

-- Follow Cynthia McCormick on Twitter: @Cmccormickcct.

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