Breast cancer screening remains a subject of intense and, at times, passionate debate. Mammography has long been the mainstay of breast cancer detection and is the only screening test proven to reduce mortality. Although it remains the gold standard of breast cancer screening, there is increasing awareness of subpopulations of women for whom mammography has reduced sensitivity. Mammography has ...

Estimates of overdiagnosis in mammography screening range from 1% to 54%. This review explains such variations using gradual implementation of mammography screening in the Netherlands as an example. Breast cancer incidence without screening was predicted with a micro-simulation model. Observed breast cancer incidence (including ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive breast cancer) was modeled an...

Breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) screening of women under 50 years old at high familial risk of breast cancer was given interim funding by Medicare in 2009 on the basis that a review would be undertaken. An updated literature review has been undertaken by the Medical Services Advisory Committee but there has been no assessment of the quality of the screening or other screening outcomes. ...

BACKGROUND Previous research showed that deprived individuals are less likely to attend breast screening and those providing intense amounts of informal care tend to be more deprived than non-caregivers. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between informal caregiving and uptake of breast screening and to determine if socio-economic gradients in screening attendance were explai...

Young age at occurrence and advanced tumour stage at diagnosis should urge health policy makers to focus on strategies that will help to reduce breast cancer burden in Iran. However, fundamental knowledge to select the optimal control strategy is limited. In this review paper we summarize considerations for launching a successful mass screening program in Iran using a thorough search of the lit...

BACKGROUND Breast cancer remains the leading cause of female cancer death despite improvements in treatment and screening. Screening is often criticized for leading to overdiagnosis and overtreatment. However, few have attempted to identify overdiagnosed cases. PATIENTS AND METHODS A large, consecutive series of patients treated for primary operable, screening-detected, breast cancer (n = 161...

The utility of MRI in the detection of breast cancer has evolved over the last few decades. It is now the most sensitive imaging tool available for the diagnosis of invasive breast cancer. There are drawbacks however, namely increased cost in comparison to screening mammography and decreased specificity. Thus, it is important to tailor the use of breast MRI to specific screening populations in ...

Breast cancer screening is known to reduce breast cancer mortality. A high breast density may affect this reduction. We assessed the effect of screening on breast cancer mortality in women with dense and fatty breasts separately. Analyses were performed within the Nijmegen (Dutch) screening programme (1975-2008), which invites women (aged 50-74 years) biennially. Performance measures were deter...

A growing body of evidence suggests that the benefits achieved by screening for breast cancer are small, that the harm from the overdiagnosis of breast cancer arising from screening is substantial, and that, where screening is available, the observed reductions in breast cancer mortality arise largely from increased awareness and improved chemoand hormone therapy.1 In spite of these new insight...

BACKGROUND Previous research suggests that predisposing factors such as previous screening experience, participation in preventive health behaviors, and knowledge/beliefs about breast cancer and screening influence a woman's decision to make a timely return for a second screen. METHODS A stratified random sample of compliers and noncompliers to biennial screening were selected from a cohort o...