Health professionals

Download the BreastScreen WA GP Resource Order Form [PDF / 108KB] for a list of BreastScreen WA resources available to order and either:

Fax your completed order form to (08) 9323 6787
Phone your order through to the BreastScreen WA resource order line on (08) 9323 6762
Email your order to breastscreenwa@health.wa.gov.au
Order online at www.health.wa.gov.au/ordering

The following provides a list of information, guidelines, reports and links on screening mammography and related topics for GPs and Health Professionals.

Health professional resources

Guidelines

Please note: By clicking on these links you will be taken to another website.

Reports

Over-diagnosis from mammography screening

January 2008 NBCC position statement.

Developed by National Breast Cancer Centre (NBCC).
Endorsed by the Cancer Institute NSW and The Cancer Council Australia.
Based on published evidence to October 2007.

Summary statement

Mammography screening significantly reduces death rates from breast cancer by enabling earlier and more effective treatment.

The vast majority of breast cancers found through screening are progressive lesions that would become symptomatic within the woman’s lifetime if left untreated. It is likely, however, that there is a sub-set of cancers that may be non-progressive or progress so slowly, that they would not have been otherwise found in the woman’s lifetime. Diagnosis of these cancers has been referred to as ‘overdiagnosis’ and their treatment as ‘overtreatment’.

Estimates of the size of this sub-set vary widely and are dependent on a range of assumptions as we do not know what the incidence of breast cancer would be today without the introduction of the BreastScreen Australia program.

Research is underway, including molecular and genetic research, to find means of identifying this sub-set of cancers.

For complete article with references, please go to NBCC website.