From Ask Dr. Jerome, the blog of Jerome Schroeder, M.D., Fellowship Trained Breast Imaging Radiologist at Diversified Radiology.
A couple of months ago, I received a form letter from a large local primary care group here in Denver. In the letter, I was asked to put the USPSTF mammography screening recommendations into the results letters we send to their patients. As you all probably know, the Task Force recommendations are in contradiction to those of the majority of scientific and advocacy groups. While most organizations continue to recommend annual screening mammograms for all women 40 years old and older, the Task Force recommendations, which came out in November, 2009, do not routinely recommend screening at all in women in their 40s and only biennially for women aged 50-74. Below is my response to this request. Although it is a little lengthy, I hope that it expresses my position and the position of thousands of physicians and dozens of medical organizations in a logical and evidenced-based way. Thanks for reading!