FRIDAY, April 17, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Asymptomatic, average-risk women aged 50 to 74 years should receive biennial screening for breast cancer, according to a guidance statement published online April 17 in the Annals of Internal Medicine to coincide with the Internal Medicine Meeting, the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians, held from April 16 to 18 in San Francisco.
Amir Qaseem, M.D., Ph.D., from the American College of Physicians in Philadelphia, and colleagues present updated guidance for internal medicine physicians and other clinicians on screening asymptomatic, average-risk adult women for breast cancer.
According to the guidance, clinicians should discuss the risk for breast cancer, values and preferences, and uncertainty surrounding benefits and harms of screening for breast cancer in asymptomatic, average-risk women aged 40 to 49 years; if women in this population prefer to get screened, clinicians should initiate screening mammography every two years following shared decision-making. Clinicians should use biennial mammography for breast cancer screening for asymptomatic, average-risk women aged 50 to 74 years. Clinicians should discuss discontinuation of breast cancer screening based on shared decision-making in asymptomatic, average-risk women aged 75 years or older, or asymptomatic average-risk women with a limited life expectancy. Clinicians should consider using supplemental digital breast tomosynthesis for asymptomatic, average-risk adult women with breast density of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System category C or D; supplemental magnetic resonance imaging or ultrasound should not be used for these women.
More breast cancer screening studies "are needed to evaluate the accuracy of different modalities, the benefits and harms of screening intervals, and adult females with dense breasts, particularly those receiving supplemental screening," the authors write.
In response to the updated guidance statement, the American College of Radiology and Society of Breast Imaging stressed that women should start annual screening at age 40 years. "New American College of Physicians breast cancer screening guidelines rely on outdated and hyperbolic information, will cause continued confusion among women and may contribute to thousands of additional breast cancer deaths each year," the organizations write in a statement. "Thousands more women would endure extensive surgery, mastectomies, and chemotherapy for advanced cancers than if their cancers were found early by an annual mammogram."