Italian guidelines for age range and test interval in breast cancer screening programmes: GRADE-ADOLOPMENT of the European guidelines.

A guideline panel formulated a set of recommendations for breast cancer screening and diagnosis to implement clinical activities in Italy in alignment with the European Breast Cancer Guidelines on Screening and Diagnosis (European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer-ECIBC). The panel issued national recommendations through adopting, adapting, and/or developing recommendations from the European guidelines (ADOLOPMENT approach). This process utilizes the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) evidence to decision (EtD) framework. An additional PubMed search was conducted using search terms specific to Italy to tailor the EU guidelines to the national context. Nine articles were included as contextual evidence in the EtD. A total of 13 recommendations were finalized, either adapted or adopted to suit the national context. Organized breast cancer screening is strongly recommended for women aged 50-69 every 2 years, and it is conditionally recommended every 3 years for women aged 70-74, as well as every 1 or 2 years for women aged 45-49. Annual mammography received a strong recommendation against for women aged 50 and older. Developing shared national guidelines for the management of mammography screening will improve the standardization of processes across all settings, thereby promoting health equity.
Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: Silvia Deandrea is the President of the Italian Mammography Screening Group; Marco Rosselli Del Turco was a medical consultant for senology at FORA s.p.a. Paolo Giorgi Rossi is a member of the panel that developed the European guidelines on breast cancer screening and diagnosis, referred document for the ADOLOPMENT process; Livia Giordano is a member of the panel that developed the European guidelines on breast cancer screening and diagnosis, referred document for the ADOLOPMENT process; Elena Parmelli was a contract staff member at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, Ispra, VA (Italy); Cannatà Vittorio has been Vice-President of the Italian Association of Medical Physics (AIFM); Isabella Castellano has been professional consultant for symposium “Choosing the best therapy in ER + /HER2- breast cancer” (Token of attendance at the National Congress of Anatomic Pathology, October 2019), Myriad Genetics, s.r.l.; Stefano Pacifici is the President of the Italian Association of Senology Radiographers (AITeRS); Trianni Annalisa is a member of the Italian Association of Medical Physics (AIFM); Paola Golinelli was reimbursed for participation in the European Federation of Organization for Medical Physics (EFOMP) Working Group on mammographic tomosynthesis equipment. Pierpaolo Pattacini received a software by I-CAD. The other authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interest to disclose. Competing interests: All panellists were required to disclose all financial, non-financial, personal, and institutional interests relevant to the scope of the guidelines by completing a standardized form, following SNLG guidance. The Scientific Committee (SC) assessed each individual interest, and ultimately, no panellist was excluded from the voting procedures. This policy was upheld throughout the entire process, including the selection of panel members, the generation and prioritization of research questions, and participation in the formulation of recommendations. The SC consistently monitored the declaration of conflicts of interest (COI). Ethical approval: Ethical approval was not necessary for this kind of scientific work. Informed consent: Not applicable.
(© 2024. Italian Society of Medical Radiology.)