There is insufficient evidence to suggest breast cancer screening should be stopped at a specific age. This is the conclusion of the largest study to date of mammography outcomes in the United States.

Study co-author Dr. Cindy Lee, assistant professor in residence at the University of California-San Francisco, and team recently presented their findings at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting, held in Chicago, IL.

After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among American women.

According to the American Cancer Society, around 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year, and more than 40,000 women will die from the disease.

Guidelines issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in 2009 recommend that women aged 40-49 at average risk of breast cancer should make an individual, informed decision as to whether they undergo mammography, while women aged 50-74 should undergo mammography every 2 years.

For women aged 75 and older, however, the USPSTF state that there is insufficient evidence to “assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening mammography.”

Such guidelines are at odds with those from the American Cancer Society, which recommend that women aged 55 and older should undergo mammography every 2 years, and “screening should continue as long as a woman is in good health and is expected to live 10 more years or longer.”

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