Why are screening mammograms important?
Screening mammograms are performed on women 40 years or over with no breast symptoms every two years, for the purpose of detecting breast cancer at an early stage before it can be felt or noticed.
Did you know?
- Women in Australia have a 1 in 8 risk of developing breast cancer in their lifetime
- The risk of breast cancer increases with age
- A mammogram can detect up to 90% of breast cancers and is the only proven means of detecting breast cancer at this early stage
- Screening mammograms may detect a very small cancer, as small as a grain of rice, before you or your doctor can feel it
- Breast cancer cannot be prevented, but the earlier a breast cancer is detected the better the chance of successful treatment
Related links
Useful resources to download
- Have a FREE screening mammogram – Helping you make an informed choice [PDF / 198KB]
- Fact Sheet 1 – Breast cancer and screening mammography [PDF / 122KB]
- Screening mammography for women with a family history of breast cancer [PDF / 156KB]
Useful links
Please note: By clicking on these links you may be taken to another website.
- Women with a family history of breast cancer
- National Breast Cancer Centre: information about breast cancer risk factors
- National Breast Cancer Centre: information about family history of breast cancer
File Formats
Some documents for download on this website are in a Portable Document Format (PDF). To read these files you might need to download Adobe® Acrobat Reader.
