04/29/2026
Last week the American College of Physicians (ACP) issued new breast cancer screening guidelines, which recommend biennial screening for women at average risk, starting at age 50.
Brem Foundation to Defeat Breast Cancer stands in strong opposition to this ACP recommendation, which conflicts with multiple screening recommending bodies, including Society of Breast Imagers, American College of Radiology, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. ACP’s new guidelines run counter to unequivocal scientific evidence and will result in more lives lost.
Annual mammograms for women at average risk are critical; without them, interval cancers can appear between screening mammograms, resulting in later stage diagnoses and risk far worse outcomes.
ACP’s guidelines will create further confusion for patients, resulting in later diagnoses and poorer outcomes.
ACP’s new recommendations further suggest that women at average risk, age 40-49, use ‘shared decision making’ as a guide on whether to get screened. They suggest that women over age 74 should discuss stopping screening with their doctors, as benefits are reduced and uncertain, and harms of overdiagnosis become more likely. Finally, the recommendations call for women with dense breasts to be screened with digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) (rather than additional testing with ultrasound or MRI). This will unequivocally result in worse outcomes for women.
The evidence is clear - early detection of breast cancer saves lives. To maximize best health outcomes and reduce mortality, women at average risk should be screened every year, beginning at 40. Women at higher risk often need to start screening at younger ages and often require tests in addition to their annual mammograms, like breast ultrasound, or MRI.
With rapidly escalating rates of breast cancer in younger women, annual screenings are more important than ever., Younger women are frequently diagnosed with more aggressive cancers, that are more difficult to treat. Catching these dangerous cancers early has a dramatic impact on health outcomes. Today, over 2 million US women are living in their 90’s and deserve the same essential and timely breast cancer screening, as they age. Furthermore, the value that ACP assigns to the life of women over 74 is unacceptable. Simply put, ACP’s new recommendations will cost lives. Women and indeed, all people deserve better.
🔗bremfoundation.org/ACPguidelines
