Breast Cancer Screening Starts At Age 40, New Recommendations Recommend

(CTN News) – Starting at age 40, women should undergo a breast cancer mammogram every other year, according to the latest recommendation from the United States Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

This represents a considerable improvement over the previous recommendations, which recommended that women begin biennial screenings at age 50 and that women in their 40s should speak with their doctors about getting screened.

In response to rising cancer rates among women in their 40s, as well as evidence that earlier mammograms can save lives, the change was first released as a draft last year. According to the National Cancer Institute, the incidence of breast cancer among women aged 40 to 49 increased by 2% annually between 2015 and 2019.

Dr. Wanda Nicholson, the chair of the task force, stated “With the increasing incidence of breast cancer among women in their 40s, mammography is becoming even more crucial.”

According to the group, an independent panel of experts, its new recommendations, which were published in the journal JAMA on Tuesday, could save as many as 20% more lives than the previous recommendations.

When determining coverage and reimbursement, insurance companies often follow the task force’s recommendations, but many plans already cover mammograms for women starting at the age of forty.

The service is typically provided by a technician at an imaging center or radiology department. Primary care doctors or obstetrician-gynecologists order mammograms for their patients. The patient places each breast between two plates, and then an x-ray machine takes an image of the tissue in each breast.

If cancer is detected, it is possible that additional mammograms, ultrasounds, biopsies, or magnetic resonance imaging will be necessary in order to determine if there is an existing diagnosis or not.

Women with a personal history of breast cancer, those who have had an abnormality on an earlier biopsy, or those who have a genetic marker for breast cancer are not covered by the task force’s new guidelines – in fact, for these groups, it might be necessary to screen more often and earlier.

In addition, the recommendations are only applicable to women who are between the ages of 55 and 74.

There are some leading medical groups that feel the task force’s new guidance still does not go far enough in terms of recommendations.

It is recommended that women between the ages of 45 and 54 undergo annual Breast Cancer screenings, rather than cancer screenings every other year, with the option of switching to biennial screenings once they reach the age of 55, according to the American Cancer Society.

It is not recommended that women cease screening at a certain age, so long as they expect to live at least another ten years, as long as they are expected to live at least 10 more years.

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