Mobile mammography screening: the James Graham Brown Cancer Center three year experience. Implications for public and professional education.

OBJECTIVE

Review the mobile mammography screening experience at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center during a 3 year interval.

METHODS

Collect and analyze demographic and outcome data on the screened population.

RESULTS

4,864 women underwent two-view mammograms. One third of the mammograms were performed in women over 50 years of age. 232 mammograms were carried out per cancer detected. The number of mammograms per cancer detected was 2.5 times higher and the number of biopsies per cancer detected was 2.8 times higher in women under 50 years of age. Two thirds of the cancers detected were in the over 50 age group which represents one third of the study population.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, mammographic screening for breast cancer was more cost effective because a higher yield of cancers detected was obtained with fewer mammograms and fewer breast biopsies in women over 50 years of age, compared to women under 50 years. Resolving the question of the cost effectiveness of screening women aged 40 to 49, will require a large randomized prospective trial. In the near term, rather than to dwell on this issue, we would propose that this study suggests the need for greater emphasis in both public and professional education on breast cancer detection directed to women over 50 years of age.