Once again, a detailed look at cancer screening – this time breast cancer. Despite the recent ACP recommendations, it may just come down to this:

In addition, the elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge is the medical-legal climate. One of the most common causes of lawsuits, if not the most common, is failure to diagnose breast cancer. What primary care doctor has the cojones not to screen women from 40-49, when the majority of radiology and medical organizations still recommend mammography every 1-2 years between ages 40 and 50, even if the evidence upon which they base these recommendations is not as compelling as that for women over 50?

Not me if I were doing primary care. And not me doing breast surgery. Besides, I think that even the more modest benefit of screening women from 40-50 years old is probably worth it.