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A doctor with Maryville's Tennessee Breast Center said she is outraged by recent recommendations that suggest women put off getting mammograms until age 50 and that women older than 75 may not benefit from the screening.

"It is sad to see a 91-year-old woman die from metastatic breast cancer because she was not encouraged to have an annual mammogram," Dr. Melissa Trekell said in a letter to her colleagues.

Trekell wrote a letter to area doctors to discuss findings released Monday by a government task force, which said that women in their 40s don't need to get routine mammograms and instead should get them every two years starting at 50.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force -- a government panel of independent doctors and scientists -- also said that breast self-examinations do no good and women shouldn't be taught to do them.

But Amy Allen, family nurse practitioner with the Tennessee Breast Center, said self-exams are important.

"Eighty to 90 percent of women find their own masses," she said.

Trekell said that most women don't routinely engage in breast self-examination -- but they should.

"We continue to instruct and encourage the practice," she said.