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Most cancer patients would like to talk about the cost of their care with their doctors, but often don't because they fear the discussion could compromise the quality of their treatment, researchers at Duke Cancer Institute report. Yet many patients who do broach the subject of finances believe it helps decrease costs. The study is slated for presentation June 3 at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

Women in their 40s continue to undergo routine breast cancer screenings despite national guidelines recommending otherwise, according to new research from Johns Hopkins (home of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center). In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended that while women ages 50 to 74 should continue to undergo mammograms every two years, those between the ages of 40 and 49 without a family history of breast cancer should discuss the risks and benefits of routine screening mammography with their physicians to make individual decisions. The researchers expected to find fewer women in their 40s getting routine mammograms. Instead, they found no impact on mammography rates among younger women.