US Preventive Services Task Force changes breast cancer screening recommendation

The following is an excerpt from MedPage Today.

The Task Force recommends mammography every other year from ages 40 to 74 years (‘B’ grade) — a change from the previous guidance: biennial screening starting at age 50, with individual decision making for women in their 40s.

The USPSTF also weighed in on the question of continued screening for women ages 75 and older, and supplemental screening using breast ultrasonography or MRI in women with dense breasts on an otherwise negative screening mammogram, but concluded that current evidence is insufficient to make recommendations in either case (‘I’ grades).

The revised recommendation statement was published in JAMA.

Upon releasing the draft of the revised recommendation statement a year ago, the Task Force said the “new and more inclusive science about breast cancer in people younger than 50 has enabled us to expand our prior recommendation and encourage all women to get screened in their 40s. We have long known that screening for breast cancer saves lives, and the science now supports all women getting screened, every other year, starting at age 40.”

Recommendations do not apply to persons who have a genetic marker or syndrome associated with a high risk of breast cancer, a history of high-dose radiation therapy to the chest at a young age, or previous breast cancer or a high-risk breast lesion on previous biopsies.

The change in the recommendation brings it more in line with current clinical practice and with guidelines from other leading societies, including the American College of Radiology (ACR) and Society of Breast Imaging, both of which recommend annual screening starting at age 40.

The American Cancer Society recommends all women should be given the opportunity to be screened at age 40, start annual screening at age 45, and then biennial screening at age 55, with the option to continue screening annually.

Link to full article here.