Radiology, Vol 194, 185-188, Copyright © 1995 by Radiological Society of North America
Quality-oriented mass mammography screening
LJ Burhenne, HJ Burhenne and L Kan
Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver General Hospital, Canada.
PURPOSE: To demonstrate the ability of a mass mammography screening program
to provide consistently high-quality mammography screening, while at the
same time sustain a large volume of patients to keep the cost of
mammography low. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A public-funded, mass mammography
screening program, begun in 1988, is currently being conducted in five
Canadian provinces. For the Screening Mammography Program of British
Columbia, complete follow-up data are available for the first 57 months of
operation. During that time, the program expanded from one center with five
radiologist screeners to 14 centers with 30 radiologist screeners. There
were 201,937 examinations performed on 128,325 women, 35% of whom were
younger than 50 years. RESULTS: There were 802 cancers detected at an
overall rate of 6.2 per 1,000 women (2.8 per 1,000 in women younger than 50
years and 8.1 per 1,000 in women older than 50 years). In the women younger
than 50 years, 90 (72%) of the cancers were stage 0 or stage I, and the
axillary lymph nodes were involved in 14 (11%). In the women 50 years or
older, 496 (73%) of the cancers were stage 0 or stage 1, and the axillary
lymph nodes were involved in 97 (14%). CONCLUSION: If quality is carefully
controlled, the results of a mass screening program can be either
maintained or improved. For both age groups, the prognostic characteristics
are similar.
