Breast Cancer Screening with Mammography

There has been a great deal of controversy regarding the change in breast cancer screening recommendations released by the US Preventive Services Task Force in November 2009. Despite limited new data, the Task Force changed their previous recommendations delaying initial screening of asymptomatic women from age 40 to age 50 and recommending biennial rather than annual breast cancer screening. It is important to fully understand the nuances of the analysis and modeling upon which the revisions were based in order to accurately inform patients of the risks and benefits of breast cancer screening. Several new studies as well as additional guidelines have also been released over the past year which further inform the debate, and a number of commentaries have helped to place the risks and benefit in clinical and societal context.