Both organizations recognize the importance of basing their guidance on currently available scientific evidence that shows a benefit of screening with mammography for women in their 40s. The NCI and the ACS will work together to provide clear guidance to women concerning the risk of developing breast cancer and the value and limitations of screening mammography.
Risk factors vary for each person.
Women and their physicians need clear and understandable information that explains what is known about the risk of developing the disease. They also need to know that incidence of breast cancer rises with increasing age. The ACS and the NCI will develop educational tools to enable a woman to understand her own risk for developing the disease, as well as the benefits and limitations of mammography for finding breast cancer early. As in older women, screening women in their 40s provides the opportunity to find breast cancer early, when less aggressive treatments may be more feasible and more likely to provide long-term freedom from this disease. Both the NCI and ACS are committed to a goal of providing the best possible guidance to women of all ages.