A group of doctors say Canadian cancer screening guidelines set by a national task force are out-of-date and putting people at risk because their cancers aren't detected early enough.
But Saad and other doctors associated with the Coalition for Responsible Healthcare Guidelines, which organized the news conference, said the task force's screening guidelines for breast, prostate, lung and cervical cancer are largely based on older research and conflict with the opinions of specialists in those areas.
"We are way beyond the era of every abnormal screening test leading to a biopsy and every biopsy leading to treatment," he said, noting that MRIs can be used to avoid some biopsies. The Canadian task force is due to update its guidance on breast cancer screening in the coming months, but Yaffe said he's still concerned.
Lang also said the task force monitors research "all the time for important studies that will change our recommendations." The Canadian Cancer Society pulled its endorsement from the task force's website in December 2022, saying it hadn't acted quickly enough to review and update its breast cancer screening guidelines to consider including women between 40 and 50.