DOT Med News (4/19, Mitchell) reports on the current state of the debate over “what age women should be screened for breast cancer, and how often.” Dr. Debra Monticciolo, chair of the American College of Radiology (ACR) Breast Imaging Commission, said, “The ACR is not aware of any information that would cause us to change our recommendation that average-risk women begin annual mammography screening at age 40.” The US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends “biennial screenings starting at age 50.” In addition to the ACR, “the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, The Society for Breast Imaging, and 81 percent of other primary care physicians surveyed (family and internal medicine)” all favor “screenings starting at age 40.” Monticciolo added, “An analysis published in the American Journal of Roentgenology showed that if USPSTF breast cancer screening guidelines were followed, approximately 6,500 additional women each year in the U.S. would die from breast cancer.” 

The ongoing attacks directed against screening mammography remain a source of bitter disappointment for those of us who are focused on another war on a daily basis — that against a real killer known as breast cancer. We have a powerful weapon in the high-quality mammogram used as a screening method: We know this based on real science, stemming from the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted over the past 30 years that tested the impact of early detection on the breast cancer death rate. 

U.S. doctors are recommending mammography for women outside of the guidelines of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), suggesting an understanding that more women’s lives are saved by starting breast cancer screening at age 40. This information was highlighted in a recent study about breast cancer screening recommendations in JAMA Internal Medicine and an accompanying editorial.

Newsweek (3/31, Silva) reported that the National Institutes of Health’s Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer indicated “death rates for the most common types of cancer dropped for men, women and children from all racial and ethnic backgrounds from 2010-2014.” Investigators found that “the rates of new cancers were lower for men but held steady for women.”