BreastScreen Norway: 25 years of organized mammographic screening
Report
|Published
This report is part of our celebration of the 25th anniversary of BreastScreen Norway and is a continuation of the report published on our 20th anniversary, with a particular focus on the accomplishments and challenges over the last five years.
Women targeted by the program are devoted: 94% of those who have received ten invitations to screening have attended at least once, and we are very proud to offer women a high-quality screening program. However, given the fact that the rates of recall and cancer detection have been stable for 25 years, and changes in the distribution of histopathological tumor characteristics are negligible, the time is ripe to look for further improvements.
We know that there are challenges related to the sensitivity of mammography for women with dense breasts and that women outside the current target group will benefit from organized screening.
We are also aware of the benefits of personalization of health care, including screening for breast cancer. In the last chapter, we have described a possible future screening program for breast cancer, and we encourage the readers to reflect and discuss.
Screening activity has been registered in the Cancer Registry of Norway since the program’s inception and the database is nearly 100% complete. In addition to being used for program administration, these data have been accessible and used extensively in quality assurance and research projects.
The high number of scientific papers published using data from the program has improved the screening program’s quality and visibility and has contributed to making the program and its employees attractive for national and international research collaboration. There is a substantial number of ongoing quality assurance and research projects, which can be considered a preparation for evidence-based changes. Any new developments that are incorporated into the program should be evidence-based and performed in such a way that their effects can be monitored.
This report aims to describe the program as it is today and present results from its 25 years of existence with particular focus on the last five years. Thank you to all who have contributed to this effort. In the previous report, we wrote that “A 20 year old woman is full of energy, willingness to change, and has a bright future”. A 25 year old woman has matured and is ready for changes, and so is BreastScreen Norway.
