The American College of Radiology has raised concerns over new mammography guidelines issued by the American College of Physicians.
The American College of Physicians guidelines, published April 17 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, say patients ages 50-74 with an average risk of developing breast cancer should receive a mammogram every other year, while patients ages 40-49 should discuss the benefits and harms of screening with their physician.
The ACP also recommends that patients discuss stopping routine mammography if they are 75 or older, asymptomatic and at an average risk of developing breast cancer. For women with dense breasts, the ACP guidelines recommend supplemental digital breast tomosynthesis over MRI or ultrasound.
In an April 17 news release, the American College of Radiology said the guidelines will cause continued confusion, “rely on outdated and hyperbolic information” and “may contribute to thousands of additional breast cancer deaths each year.”
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the American Cancer Society, the ACR, the Society of Breast Imaging, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the American Society of Breast Surgeons all recommend that patients begin annual breast cancer screening at age 40.
“When we change that age to 50, that number of women who are going to be protected from breast cancer decreases by almost half,” Georgia Spear, MD, chief of breast imaging at Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine, told WGN News on April 17. “We want to make sure that the public recognizes that the screening mammogram is the gold standard for early breast cancer screening.”
The ACP said the guideline shift is due to “harms of screening such as false positive results, psychological distress because of it, overdiagnosis, overtreatment, additional testing and radiation exposure [that] may outweigh the uncertain benefits” for patients younger than 50, according to an April 17 news release from the organization.
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