Baptist Health Expert Weighs in on Updated Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines

Earlier this year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent U.S. panel of experts that sets widely followed screening standards, finalized its updated recommendation that all women get screened for breast cancer starting at age 40.

The most important screening test for breast cancer is an annual mammogram. 

Baptist Health South Florida already supported annual mammograms for women at average risk starting at age 40 even before the U.S. task force updated its previous guidance under mounting criticism from medical organizations.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer, and the second most common cause of cancer death, for women in the U.S. The new guidance is based on findings from studies indicating that breast cancer is increasingly being diagnosed in younger women.

Other organizations have been recommending annual screening mammograms at age 40 long before the Task Force update, explains radiologist Kathy Schilling, M.D., medical director of the Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. 

Radiologist Kathy Schilling, M.D., medical director of the Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.

“It's long been recognized that starting annual screenings at age 40 saves the most lives,” said Dr. Schilling. “With the current recommendation, the Task Force recommends that women get screened every other year. However, the recommendations from Baptist Health and most organizations, including the American College of Radiology and the Society of Breast Imaging, is for screenings every year, and not skip a year in between. We have so much data that confirms the importance of doing annual mammography starting at age 40.”

Baptist Health offers screening mammograms at several convenient locations to ensure access to these vital services. Talk to your doctor about your specific risk and which screening is right for you.

“Mammography is a tried-and-true mechanism to find breast cancer,” said Dr. Schilling. “It's the best tool that we have out there. That's why we call it the gold standard for diagnosing breast cancer. Nothing's ever going to be perfect. But this is a really good tool, and we have so many years of experience to say that it actually really, really works.”

Breast cancer mortality rates overall have dropped by 44 percent since 1989, but there is an upward trend in breast cancer diagnoses, rising by 1 percent annually during 2012-2021, according to the American Cancer Society’s update on breast cancer statistics released this month.

The steepest increase in rates was among women younger than 50 years (1.4 percent per year) and Asian American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) women of any age (2.5 percent-2.7 percent per year).

“More women in their 40s have been getting breast cancer, with rates increasing about 2 percent each year, so this recommendation will make a big difference for people across the country,” stated the U.S. Task Force chair Wanda Nicholson, M.D., in a statement earlier this year. “By starting to screen all women at age 40, we can save nearly 20 percent more lives from breast cancer overall. This new approach has even greater potential benefit for Black women, who are much more likely to die of breast cancer.”

Starting last month, all mammography reports and result letters sent to patients in the U.S. were required to include an assessment of breast density. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) final rule, requiring that mammography reports include information on density was issued last year – but took effect in September of this year. Breast density is a measurement of how much fibroglandular tissue there is in a woman’s breast, compared to fatty tissue. The more fibroglandular tissue, the denser the breast.

“Fibrous and glandular tissue are harder to see through on a mammogram, so your breast tissue may be called ‘dense’ if you have a lot of these tissues (and not as much fat),” states the American Cancer Society (ACS).