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Anne Valente was in her late 30s when she learned she had breast cancer. That was almost 14 years ago, and she credits getting a mammogram with saving her life. So every time she hears a conflicting report about how soon and how often women should be screened, her internal alarm goes off.

"I don't want to say I scream at the TV but I don't like when I hear that because really, mammos and digital mammography are picking up cancers earlier," says Valente.

A study last year by the United States Preventive Task Force showed that the benefit of annually screening women age 40 and up was not as high as previously thought. That study suggested women should delay screening until age 50 -- although that was soon recanted. A recent study out of Norway had similar findings, but a larger Swedish study did show a benefit for women in their 40s.

Dr. Deborah Axelrod, director of clinical breast services at NYU Langone Medical Center, recommends women get screened every year starting at the age of 40, and earlier if there's a family history.

"I have a lot of concerns about not doing mammograms and sending the wrong message to people because we don't want to go back to the 1970s when the survival rate was lower than it is now," says Axelrod. "We don't want to treat women who have more advanced breast cancer because it is far better to diagnose them when they have early cancer and when it can successfully be treated."

"We see a number of cancers in this younger population. The cancers we see on mammograms show up long before a patient or physician can feel the cancer is a lump. That's when you catch the cancer, before it becomes a lump, when it is more easily treated," explains Director of Breast Imaging at Beth Israel Medical Center Dr. Tamara Fulop.

Women are strongly encouraged to speak with their doctors about routine mammograms. If they decide to have one, they should get screened at facilities with experienced, full-time breast imagers to avoid false positives and poor quality images.

"A mammogram should be at a facility that has dedicated mammographers, that is not busy, they are not reading foot X-rays, they are dedicated to the breasts," says Axelrod.

"I'm really of the mind of 40 years old and every year, you have consistent pictures to look at for any changes at all in your breast tissue. I was given my life," says Valente.