When is the right time for a mammogram?

(WTNH) - There's still a lot of confusion over what seems to be mixed messages on breast cancer screening guidelines. A new report released Monday recommends women should start getting mammograms at 50, then every two years.

But the American Cancer Society insists regular exams should start at age 40. And, a well-known Connecticut medical oncologist will continue to advise her patients to get that early screening.

Nancy Anderson was 49-years old when she had her first mammogram.

"I really didn't have any risk factors," Anderson said. "I'm healthy, why do I want to take time out of my schedule and try to go through all this bureaucratic stuff to get a test that I don't need?"

But a lump in her left breast changed her mind.

"I was just sitting and reading and moved my arm across, turn the page of the paper and it was like, hey that feels funny on my chest when I do that."

A mammogram at St. Raphael's Women's Center for Breast Health confirmed a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Nancy's story underscores the controversy over the new breast cancer screening guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Task Force.

Specifically that most women should start getting a mammogram at the age of 50 instead of 40-years-old.

"We don't force women to get mammograms in this country, so the women who get the mammogram are the women who want to know and I think that option should still be available to those who want to know," said Dr. Andrea Silber of St. Raphael's Women's Center for Breast Health.

Dr. Silber is the co-director of the Women's Center for Breast Health.

"To issue a report and not offer other options or other plans for reducing the disease in this country doesn't really help women as much as it could," said Dr. Silber.

Something else Dr. Silber points out: most younger women have dense breasts which she says is a big factor for breast cancer. "It makes it hard for all of this to really see a cancer," said Dr. Silber.

"Women with dense breasts probably have as much, if not more, increased risk than women with a family history; how do you know you have increased breast density if you have never had a mammogram?" said Dr. Silber.

Dr. Silber said if a woman understands both the benefits and limitations of mammography then it is her right to decide whether to have a mammogram.

But, she said, those options should be available and paid for.

A big fear is that insurance companies could consider not covering mammogram screening for women under the age of 50-years-old.