Prevention for the older woman. A practical guide to managing risk of malignancies

As women live longer and anticipate good health during their later years, cancer screening becomes increasingly complex. Physicians receive discordant recommendations from medical societies, task forces, Medicare, and special interest groups about which cancers merit screening, how screening should be performed, the frequency of screening, and when screening should be discontinued. Female patients may receive confusing recommendations from their friends, the lay press, the Internet, and their own doctors. Given the proliferation of opinions and the limited data regarding the efficacy of cancer screening in older women, physicians must help their patients understand the potential benefits, limitations, and consequences of various cancer screenings for each individual woman.