First Guidelines for Mammography in Older Breast Cancer Survivors Released – Here’s What You Need to Know

New Delhi: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women. Like all other cancers, detecting the disease early is considered the best way to manage and treat it. That is why it is recommended that women get tested periodically for breast cancer, especially if they are in the high risk category. A history of breast cancer personally or in the family may put you at high risk of contracting the disease. It is recommended that women have regular mammograms to make sure they are healthy and have not developed breast cancer.

The first guidelines for older breast cancer survivors have also been published recently. According to the guidelines, when deciding whether or not elderly survivors of the disease should continue with mammograms, doctors should consider their life expectancy, experts said.

The first screening mammography guidelines were released Jan. 28 for the elderly patient group. A national panel of experts from the United States shared its recommendations JAMA Oncology.

The group was led by Rachel A. Freedman, MD, MPH, medical director of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Cancer Care Collaborative. They said these guidelines are not prescriptive, but are a great starting point for discussing mammography plans and options with older patients.

“The purpose of the guidelines is to provide support for clinicians to have these conversations with patients and to make a shared individual decision for each woman,” she said.

Current standards recommend mammography for all breast cancer survivors during annual screening. Little guidance is given to tailor these services to older women based on their life expectancy, risk of recurrence, patient preferences, or the trade-offs associated with the examination should play a role in all decisions.

“The result is that the use of mammography for older survivors has been very inconsistent,” Freedman said. “As the number of older women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer is expected to increase in the coming years, it is important that we find ways to individualize decisions based on each patient’s situation and preferences. .

Guidelines for mammography in elderly breast cancer survivors

Researchers looked at a variety of factors, including the risk of breast cancer in older women. They also looked at the pros and cons of continuing mammography in these older patients. Based on their discussion, the group drafted these guidelines, which have been reviewed by the International Society of Geriatric Oncology:

• Stop mammography for breast cancer survivors over 75 who have a life expectancy of less than five years, even for those with a history of high-risk tumors, such as triple negative or ERBB2-positive.
• Consider forgoing mammograms for survivors with a life expectancy of five to ten years.
• Continue with annual or biennial mammography in survivors who have a life expectancy of over 10 years.
• Discontinue mammography for women over 85 with a life expectancy of less than five years, unless the woman is in extraordinary health or wishes to continue screening.
• Based on their review of the literature, the team determined that mammography offered little to moderate benefits for older women and could produce false positives that could lead to anxiety, unnecessary testing, and overtreatment. . Fortunately, they said, older breast cancer survivors have a low risk of breast cancer in both breasts, especially women who have previously received hormone-blocker therapy for hormone receptor positive tumors.