VIDEO: American Cancer Society's recommendations on breast cancer screening

WASHINGTON – The American Cancer Society recommends screening for breast cancer beginning at age 45 years, although women aged 40 to 44 should have flexibility in starting annual screenings, Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, director of the Cancer Survivorship Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering, in New York, said at the American College of Physicians Internal Medicine Meeting.

Oeffinger, who is chairman of the American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Screening Guideline Panel, added that it is important to maintain a similar flexibility for women aged 55 and older who elect to receive biennial screenings. These guidelines differ slightly from the U.S. Preventive Service Task Force, which has elected to recommend breast cancer screening beginning at age 50.

“In the U.S., it’s important to maintain flexibility for women who are aged 40 to 44 for annual screenings, or age 55 and up for biennial screenings, and that’s where you see the nuanced differences between the American Cancer Society’s screening guidelines and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,” Oeffinger said. “… The randomized clinical trials stop at age 74, and so many groups recommend stopping [screening] at age 74. However, we know women in the U.S. are living longer, healthier and more productive lives. Twenty-five percent of breast cancer deaths are women diagnosed after the age of 74, so the American Cancer Society recommended that women who have a reasonably likelihood of living another 10 years of active and productive life would benefit from continued breast cancer screening.”