The conversation has not died down about screening mammography for women in their 40s. In my own office, the phone hasn't stopped ringing and the questions are top of mind.

One of the counter-arguments made about the new screening guidelines on mammography under age 49 is that the guidelines were based on studies that are not current with the newest technologies. So when I opened up my hot-off-the-press publications, I was not surprised to read a study that flies directly contrary to the Canadian guidelines.

Women in their 40s with no family history of breast cancer -- the so called average women -- are just as likely to develop invasive breast cancer as are women with a family history of the disease, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

As the press release stated, these findings indicate that women in this age group would benefit from annual screening mammography.

The breast cancer screening guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force in November 2009, and of course our very own released last week, sparked controversy among physicians, patient advocacy groups and the media.

I spoke with Dr. Stamatia Destounis. She and her colleagues did a retrospective review (looking back in time at records) to identify the number and type of cancers diagnosed among women between the ages of 40 and 49 -- with and without a family history of breast cancer -- who underwent screening mammography at Elizabeth Wende Breast Care from 2000 to 2010. Then they compared the number of cancers, incidence of invasive disease and lymph node spread between the two groups.

They found there were 1,071 patients in the 40-49 age group with breast cancer. Then they asked how many of these women were diagnosed using routine screening. They found 373 of the 1,071 cases of cancer were diagnosed as a result of routine screening. Of that 373, they then asked how many were so-called average women. While 39 per cent had a family history of breast cancer, 61 percent had NO family history of breast cancer -- clearly the majority of found screened cases; 61% of the 373 cases were found throught a routine screen of an average woman. 

In the family history group, 63.2 per cent of the patients had invasive disease, and 36.8 per cent had noninvasive disease. In the no family history group, 64 per cent of the patients had invasive disease, and 36 per cent had non-invasive disease. The numbers were pretty much the same. Two thirds had invasive disease. The respective lymph node metastatic spread rates were 31 per cent and 29 per cent, which are almost the same for either with and without family history.

"In the 40-49 age group, we found a significant rate of breast cancer and similar rates of invasive disease in women with and without family history," Dr. Destounis said. "Additionally, we found the lymph node metastatic rate was similar."

According to Dr. Destounis, these results underscore the importance of early detection and annual screening mammography for women between the ages of 40 and 49 whether or not they have a family history of breast cancer.

The controversy rages on.

WATCH: My mammogram chat on Canada AM