The American Cancer Society (ACS) has finally done what no other American medical professional society dealing with breast cancer has been willing to do — examine the available evidence and recommend that mammogram screening start later and be performed less frequently. The response from politicians, the media and some physicians was swift, predictable and misguided.
For years the U.S., in accordance with recommendations from the ACS and other medical societies, has been the only country to recommend annual mammography screening for breast cancer starting at age 40 — other countries start mammography at 50 and then test every two to three years up to ages between 70 and 74. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a respected, independent panel of primary care and preventive medicine experts, reviewed the risks and benefits of mammography in 2009 and again in 2015.
Both times it advised that mammography no longer be routinely recommended for average risk women in the 40-49 year old age group because the risks outweigh the benefits. Instead, the USPSTF recommended that women between 50 and 74 have mammograms every other year rather than annually. Both times the suggestion was immediately condemned by medical groups, patient groups and politicians from both parties.
In April Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz claimed in the Washington Post that deferring mammograms until 50 would result in “needless deaths.” She, along with Republican Representative Renee Ellmers, sponsored the Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings Act (PALS Act, H.R. 3339) which places a two-year moratorium on implementing the USPSTF recommendations.
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