Breast Cancer Screening in High-Risk Women

There is circumstantial evidence that population-based screening programmes can reduce breast cancer mortality in women aged 40–70 years old. The value of screening in highrisk groups such as women with a positive family history of breast cancer is unproven. In the meantime a rapidly increasing number of high-risk women seek counselling about strategies to reduce their risk of breast cancer death, such as intensive surveillance. As for ethical reasons no randomized trials can be performed, the effect of screening these women has to be evaluated by means of observational studies. In several specialized centers in the Netherlands, women with a more than 2 times increased risk of breast cancer (BC) (lifetime > 15%) are being screened regularly. In this study the first results of screening highrisk women in the Rotterdam Cancer Center/ University Hospital are described.