ABSTRACT
The vast majority of women attending breast screening do not have breast cancer and the screening program is organized to rapidly reassure these women. A small proportion of women who attend screening will have a cancer and the aim is to promptly diagnose and refer these women for treatment. There are four stages that complete a screening episode:
routine screening
invitation and attendance for screening At present, women are called for their fi rst NHSBSP mammograms between their 50th and 53rd birthday and thereafter every three years until they are 70. Currently the screening range is being extended from age 47 to 73, which means that all women will potentially get two extra screening invitations in their lifetime. The evidence base behind this decision was limited and there is an ongoing centrally funded trial of the women in the upper and lower age bands of the proposed age extension to try to establish best practice in these groups. In total, 1.88 million women aged 45 and over were screened within the programme in 2010-11, compared with 1.79 million in 2009-10 (2).
