One Versus Two Views per Breast for Screening Mammography

Abstract

Although still grossly underutilized in many parts of the world, mammography screening is being done with increasing frequency. Also gaining in popularity is the concept of high volume, streamlined screening at low cost (Lundgren and Jakobsson 1976a; Moskowitz and Fox 1979; Lundgren and Helleberg 1982; Tabar et al. 1983; Strax 1984; McLelland 1984; Sickles et al. 1986b; Bird and McLelland 1986; McLelland 1987; American Cancer Society 1987; Sickles 1987; Monsees et al. 1988; Sickles 1988). Among the various methods suggested to reduce costs is the practice of irtiaging each breast with one rather than two standard projections (Lundgren and Jakobsson 1976a; Lundgren and Helleberg, Tabar et al. 1983). This approach certainly will halve the cost of X-ray film, but more importantly, it may also permit increased patient throughput and reduced interpretation time. In addition, despite the negligible difference in oncogenic risk (Feig 1984; National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements 1986), mammography at half the radiation dose might further increase patient compliance (Buchanan and Jager 1977; Bassett et al. 1986).