About 80% of all mammography is performed for screening purposes.

In screening mammography, as many cancers as possible must be identified as early as possible. Also, screening mammography must not cause undue emotional stress and financial cost by calling too many women for unnecessary biopsies.

Research has identified the factors that lead to satisfying screening results.

These are: • The production of the best image Our radiographers must all be certified Mammographers and have attended an internationally recognized teaching course in mammography interpretation and attend at least 50 hrs annually of CPD-accredited training in breast health. • The optimal reading of the image All our doctors must devote the vast majority of their work to breast health and have attended an internationally recognized teaching course in mammography interpretation. • The optimal equipment We use state of the art full field digital equipment with computer aided detection from pioneers in digital mammography. • The optimal process All imaging is regularly analyzed whether we perform according to international benchmarks: and we do.

Criterion USA(1) NHS, United Kingdom (2;3) Australia (4) Prof. J. Apffelstaedt and Associates Recall rate: Indicates, how many women are recalled for further investigations. This rate should be below 10%. 9.8% 4.6% 4.2 – 9.8 5.1% Malignancy rate of biopsy: 34% 44.8% - 32% Cancers diagnosed per 1000 examinations 4.7 8.0 5.6 7.2 Percentage of in-situ cancers (these are very early cancers, curable by surgery alone) 21.6% 21.9% 20.2% 31% Percentage of early invasive cancers (< 20mm) 68.8% 73% 62.9% (includes only tumors up to 15 mm) 84% Percentage of node-negative, invasive  cancers 79.8% 76% - 81%

References:  

(1) Rosenberg RD, Yankaskas BC, Abraham LA, Sickles EA, Lehman CD, Geller BM, et al. Performance benchmarks for screening mammography. Radiology 2006 Oct;241(1):55-66.
(2) The Information Centre. 2006-2007Breast Screening Tables. Government Statistical Service, editor.  2-28-2008.  NHS - United Kingdom.
(3) NHS Breast Screening Programme and Associations of Breast Surgeons at BASO. An Audit of Screen Detected Breast Cancers for the Year of Screening April 2006 to March 2007. - ed. West Midlands Cancer Intelligence Unit; 2008.
(4) BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report 2004-2005. 2008 ed. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare; 2008.