NORTH ADAMS -- Routine annual mammograms are still the way to go for any woman over 40, local health officials maintain.

On Monday, a panel of local doctors rebuked the recent recommendations of an independent federal task force that would push back routine mammograms until the age of 50 and then require the preventative measure every two years instead of annually.

"This is where science meets emotion," Dr. Paul Rosenthal, an oncologist with Berkshire Hematology Oncology, said during a discussion at the Clark House at North Adams Regional Hospital. "While we probably cannot prove definitively that these screenings limit mortality rates, we need to realize that many women have an anxiety around breast cancer. We also need to realize that no other test is as accurate as the mammogram."

The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force has defended the controversial guidelines it released last week, which advised that screenings for women between the ages of 40 and 49 have resulted in too many false-positive results and unnecessary biopsies. The task force acknowledged, however, that screenings should always be based on discussions between patients and doctors.

Rosenthal, along with obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Susan Yates and radiologist Dr. Jeffrey Bath were adamant that they would continue to recommend mammograms starting at age 40, with annual checkups.

"We're not changing what we're doing here," Rosenthal said. "We do not have an alternative --

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we do not have a blood test. We already have individualized conversations and evaluate patients based on risk factors for breast cancer, but we also know that's not the whole picture. About 40 percent of women who have breast cancer don't have any risk factors -- being a woman is a enough of a risk factor."

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has stated the task force does not set federal policy, and has issued assurances that Medicare and Medicaid will continue to fund annual mammograms for women age 40 and over. However, many doctors believe damage has already been done.

"We already know that we aren't reaching a third of the population that needs to be having mammograms," Rosenthal said. "I fear that even fewer women will come in for their screenings now. They're hearing from the media they can put it off until age 50."

The reactions to the recent report are already being felt at NARH, Bath said.

"We've had women on the way to the mammography suite ask if they should be there -- if they're too young to be getting a screening," he said. "I don't have a problem with the science behind the report, but I have a problem with the conclusions that were drawn. Data can get murky. I believe if we can diagnose cancer in the early stages, it's better."

Yates, who works with Northern Berkshire OB/GYN at the hospital, said the task force over-emphasized the number of false-positive results -- screenings that show a mass that could be cancerous -- in mammograms of women under 50.

"It inflates the importance of false-positives and negative biopsies," she said. "I have had many patients tell me they would rather have a biopsy come back not being cancerous than having cancer. The reality is, there are too many women out there who are hesitant to be screened -- they use the rationale ‘if it isn't found, then the cancer isn't there.'"

Mammograms are most effective with clinical screenings and monthly self-exams, Yates said.

"Many women find their own lumps," she said. "Yet there are many women who are afraid to touch their own breasts. We're not asking that patients do clinical exams but be familiar with their breasts and tell us about any changes."

Polly MacPherson, program manager of Reach for Breast Health, said that while the task force's report relies on individual patient plans with doctors, those relationships and plans are part of the overall screening process -- not an individual step of determination.

"I'm a survivor of breast cancer," she said. "I told my 35-year-old daughter she needed to discuss with her doctor when she needed to get a baseline mammogram. It turns out he screened her now because of the risk factors. While they found nothing, the doctor now has an image to go by in the future."

While incidences of breast cancer and mortality rates have declined in recent years, Rosenthal said, he credited it to a combination of annual mammograms, a decrease in the use of hormone replacement therapy and better detection and treatment of early-stage breast cancer.

"To ditch mammograms in mid-stream would hamper our efforts," he said.

Current state guidelines require any health insurance carrier offering policies within Massachusetts to offer coverage for annual mammograms to women age 40 and over.