Should Patients Cancel Mammograms?

FAIRFAX, Va. (WUSA) -- Women certainly don't look forward to getting a mammogram. If it's not recommended, why go through it?

"We don't know who to believe, whether to believe the old guidelines or the new guidelines, and so it just makes things pretty scary," said Pat O'Neill, a patient.

Nurses at Fairfax Radiology have been on the phone answering patients questions: "They're asking where's this coming from, what does this mean to me, and they are generally upset," said Kim Schalk, manager.

Schalk says patients want to know whether insurance companies will continue to pay for mammograms for women at low risk.

Dr. Elise Berman says she's even getting calls from other doctors.

"Other physicians from all different specialties have been calling us as well to get our opinion on these recommendations and how we think it affects them," she said.

"I would not have come in at all if these guidelines were in place, because I'm under 50," said Reshma Eggleston, from Vienna.

O'Neill says she first found a lump in her breast when she was just 35.

"Turned out it was benign, and I've had two lumps that were benign," she said.

No matter what the recommendations are, O'Neill says she wants a mammogram.

"For me, the peace of mind is just knowing things are clear."