Early detection and regular breast cancer screenings are key to reducing death from breast cancer. Mammograms remain the best tool available and have been shown to reduce deaths from breast cancer. That's why Mayo Clinic recommends women start screening mammograms yearly at age 40. While that recommendation has been firm for the past 10 years, other institutions have shifted the recommended screening age over the years.
The latest to consider a change is the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which is proposing changing its guidelines to recommend all women begin screening mammography at age 40, a decade earlier than previous guidelines.
Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, with Mayo Clinic's Breast Diagnostic Clinic and Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, is pleased to see the shift.
