Screening for breast cancer began in the UK in 1988 and the prevalent screening round was completed in 1995. Currently, all women aged 50-64 are invited for mammograms every three years; the age range is to be expanded to women aged 70 by 2004. 17 In 1999-2000, the NHS Breast Screening Programme detected 9,797 cancers by screening about 1,550,000 women. 2 The potential use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for screening high risk women aged 35-50 is being evaluated. Women with symptoms that could be due to breast cancer are referred by their GP to designated breast clinics in local hospitals. In a single year, the average GP, with a patient.
