Shiraz Breast cancer study part II: screening mammography in a population-based breast cancer survey

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to assess the detection rate of mammography in breast cancer and the attendance rate in response to the call for screening mammography in females before the development of symptoms. One-thousand four-hundred and thirty-eight women over 35 years of age who had no complaint and had normal breast examinations were called for mammography. Out of the 10,000 women under study for breast cancer, 1,438 women were randomly called for mammography and actually 985 subjects turned up for mammography. All the mammograms were reported by the same radiologist, and physical examination of the breast was carefully performed by both radiologist and surgeon on any patient suspected of having a lesion in mammography. A total of 4 malignant non-palpable lesions were detected in 985 screening mammograms. The prevalence of breast malignancy is lower in our female population compared with the west and our detection rate in subjects with no physical findings comprises 0.4%. Since only 985 women turned up for screening mammography, the attendance rate is calculated as 68.5%. Mammographic findings consisted of 96 cases of benign-appearing breast nodules, 194 cases of calcification, 25 intra-mammary lymph nodes, 189 enlarged axillary nodes and 83 dense breasts. In conclusion, although mammography is a very helpful procedure in screening for breast cancer, the response can be low for a call for mammography and the prevalence of malignancy of the breast has been underestimated in the past