Panel Backs Fewer, Later Mammograms

Most women should start getting tests for breast cancer later, and be tested less often, new guidelines say. The advice comes from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. This expert group provides advice to doctors and others. The new guidelines say women should get mammograms every two years, starting at age 50. In the past, the group had said the tests should begin at 40 and come every one to two years. There’s also no benefit from doctors teaching women to examine their own breasts, the task force said. Several medical groups still endorse mammograms beginning at age 40. But the task force said they may do more harm than good. Women may get biopsies they don’t need. They may get surgery for cancers that will never grow. Older women are more likely to get breast cancer. So mammograms of women ages 50 to 74 are most likely to prevent a death, the task force said.