The past two weeks have witnessed a change in the world of cancer screening.

The U. S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) was not the only one to increase the age recommended for women to get their first mammogram from 40 to 50, but the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) also decided that adolescents should be spared the inconvenience and possible risks of cervical cancer screening, and wait until they reach the age of
21 for this testing.

The two groups also recommended screening at a much lesser frequency.

Another debate was added to this issue, the ongoing debate on the value of PSA testing for prostate cancer and the fact that both the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American College of Radiology have condemned the new USPSTF recommendations.

It is not strange that both patients and experts feel that they are suffering from a bad case of medical Whiplash.

The timing of both these announcements is most probably a mere co-incidence.

Dr. Robert J. Barnet, senior scholar in residence at the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University, in Washington, D. C. said, "I think it's a coincidence that this [the mammogram recommendation] came out when it did, right in the middle of the health-care reform discussion. It's a good panel, one that was dedicated to getting the right answer to what should be done about this."