Mammographic screening for breast cancer: prospects for New Zealand.

ABSTRACT

The Cancer Society and the Department of Health invited a working group to make recommendations on screening by mammography. Mammography offers the best opportunity for preventing deaths from breast cancer. Randomised trials suggest that mortality can be reduced by about 30% in women over 50; the value of routine mammography in younger women is still uncertain. Apart from financial costs, the main drawback of mammography is that many women receive unnecessary investigation because of false-positive results. Careful design and monitoring of programmes is essential to ensure that the benefits of screening outweigh the disadvantages. In New Zealand there is a shortage of radiologists, pathologists, and clinicians who are skilled in the specialised techniques required for the screening of asymptomatic women. Decisions about routine screening should be delayed until pilot programmes have been established, with assessment of their effectiveness, economic efficiency, and social acceptability. Recommendations for the design of such programmes are made.