In light of results from a massive screening mammography study that showed a 30% reduction in death from breast cancer, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) should withdraw its 2009 screening mammography guidelines, according to a statement released by the American College of Radiology (ACR). The study results were published in the July issue of Radiology.
The study, called the Swedish Two-County Trial, included more than 130,000 women from 40 to 74 years of age, roughly half of whom were screened over a seven-year period. The follow-up period was 29 years.
The trial compared the death rate from breast cancer from two randomly assigned groups of women: those who were invited to be screened with mammography alone and those who were not invited to be screened at all, ACR said. Approximately 85% of the women invited were actually screened.
The death rate was 30% lower among the women invited to be screened.
The Two-County Trial screened women in their 40s about every 24 months and women ages 50 to 74 about every 33 months, according to the ACR. If American Cancer Society (ACS) recommendations were followed -- that is, annual screening beginning at age 40 -- the number of lives saved would likely be higher than was seen in this trial, ACR claimed.
In 2009, the USPSTF issued guidelines recommending that women need not begin screening until the age of 50. The task force based its recommendation on an estimate that mammography produced a 15% decrease in breast cancer deaths.
"The USPSTF should withdraw its 2009 guidelines and support annual screening, beginning at the age of 40, for all women," ACR said. "Physicians who have been asked by the USPSTF to discuss screening with each of their younger patients would be wise to consider the results of this important screening trial."
