Brittany Zadek PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Melissa B. Reichman MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Elizabeth Kagan Arleo MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Kemi Tokunbo Babagbemi MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Ruth Rosenblatt MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

In 2009, the USPSTF changed its recommendation for the age to start screening mammography from 40 to 50 and decreased the recommended frequency from annually to biennially. This study aims to highlight how these changes could impact patients in their forties through a retrospective study of patients screened at New York Presbyterian Hospital -- Weill Cornell Medical Center (NYPH-WCMC) starting in 2007 when digital imaging replaced analog, and for the subsequent four years.

A cross-sectional retrospective study of screening mammograms performed between 2007 and 2010 at NYPH-WCMC was conducted. All patients presenting for screening mammogram, without clinical findings, were included. Patients whose screening mammogram required additional diagnostic images and ultimately received a BIRADs 4 or 5 for a suspicious abnormality were further analyzed with respect to pathology results after biopsy, associated treatments, and family history.

During the four years included in this retrospective analysis, 43,351 screens were performed and 205 breast cancers were subsequently detected, for a cancer detection rate of 4.7/1000 screening mammograms. Patients screened in their forties accounted for 33.5% of the population screened and accounted for 19% of cancers subsequently found. Over 50% of the screen-detected cancers in women in their forties (21/39) were invasive. Only three of the patients diagnosed with breast cancer in their forties from screening had a 1st degree relative with premenopausal breast cancer.

Between 2007 and 2010, patients in their forties accounted for 33.5% of the population receiving screening mammography and accounted for 19% of screen-detected breast cancers, over 50% of which were invasive. If the USPSTF recommendations had been enforced during these years, these cancers may not have been detected until the patients’ baseline screening mammogram at 50 or until it progressed to clinically evident, palpable disease.

This cross-sectional study of a subgroup in New York City aims to highlight how the USPSTF 2009 recommendations could detrimentally impact patients in their forties.

Zadek, B, Reichman, M, Arleo, E, Babagbemi, K, Rosenblatt, R, Digital Mammography Screening for Patients in Their Forties in New York City (2007-2010): A Retrospective Study Examining the Potential Impact of the USPSTF’s Changed Recommendations for Breast Cancer Screening.  Radiological Society of North America 2012 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 25 - November 30, 2012 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2012/12021878.html