News this week that a federal advisory panel, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF), recommended reversing long-standing and widely promoted guidelines for when to screen for breast cancer has brought a wide range of responses.

The recommendation that women wait to have breast-cancer screening until age 50 rather than 40, is meeting rejection from physicians and medical groups throughout the country. The list includes Allina Hospitals & Clinics, which operates and is part owner of St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee.

Dr. Timothy Sielaff, president of Allina Hospitals & Clinics’ Virginia Piper Cancer Institute, released the following statement on the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendation on routine screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years:

“The USPSTF is one of several different groups offering screening mammography recommendations. Other groups that we respect, including the American Cancer Society, continue to support the existing evidence-based recommendations. Therefore, within the Allina breast programs, we are not changing our practices at this time. Allina will continue to review its recommendation to patients as new evidence becomes available.

Allina is a not-for-profit system of hospitals, clinics and other health care services located throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Allina owns and operates 11 hospitals and more than 90 clinics.

— Pat Minelli