Time since last screen and breast cancer stage
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study of the relationship between the time since the last mammographic screen and breast cancer stage at diagnosis
IRAS ID
179076
Contact name
Anthony Maxwell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Screening for breast cancer with mammography is in widespread use in many countries, most of which have adopted a two-year screening interval. The two major exceptions to this are the United States, where annual mammography is practised, and the UK, where screening is three-yearly.
The optimum frequency of screening has not been firmly established. One trial and several observational studies have suggested that in women aged 50 or over there is no benefit to annual compared to 2-yearly mammography, although annual screening of women below 50 may be of benefit. It is not clear to what extent women in the UK are disadvantaged by a 3 year screening cycle.
Over the last few years the Manchester Breast Screening Programme has experienced variations in the screening interval. This has been for a number of reasons, including reorganisation of the way in which women are invited. This therefore gives us the opportunity to study the effect of this variation on the nature of the cancers diagnosed in screened women (including both those detected at screening and those diagnosed in the interval between scheduled screens). We will look at a number of factors, including tumour type, size, grade and whether it has spread to the axillary (armpit) lymph nodes. We will also review the previous mammograms of a subset of these women and determine whether there is a relationship between the (retrospective) visibility of the cancer on the prior mammogram and the likelihood of disease spread to the axillary lymph nodes.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0741
Date of REC Opinion
23 Apr 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion