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Annals of Oncology Advance Access originally published online on November 17, 2007
Annals of Oncology 2008 19(4):614-622; doi:10.1093/annonc/mdm481
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

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European guidelines for quality assurance in breast cancer screening and diagnosis. Fourth edition—summary document

N. Perry1, M. Broeders2, C. de Wolf3, S. Törnberg4, R. Holland5 and L. von Karsa6,*

1 London Region Breast Screening Programme, Quality Assurance Reference Centre, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, UK
2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, EUREF Office 451, Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
3 Centre fribourgeois de dépistage du cancer du sein, Fribourg, Switzerland
4 Cancer Screening Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
5 National Expert and Training Centre for Breast, Cancer Screening, EUREF Office 451, Radboud University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
6 Screening Quality Control Group, European Cancer Network Coordination Office, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon cedex, France

* Correspondence to: Dr L. von Karsa, Screening Quality Control Group, European Cancer Network Coordination Office, International Agency for Research on Cancer, 150 cours Albert-Thomas, F-69372 Lyon cedex 08, France. Tel: +33 (0)4 7273 8168; Fax: +33 (0)4 7273 8518; E-mail: lkarsa{at}iarc.fr

Breast cancer is a major cause of suffering and death and is of significant concern to many women. Early detection of breast cancer by systematic mammography screening can find lesions for which treatment is more effective and generally more favourable for quality of life. The potential harm caused by mammography includes the creation of unnecessary anxiety and morbidity, inappropriate economic cost and the use of ionising radiation. It is for this reason that the strongest possible emphasis on quality control and quality assurance is required. Development of the European Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis has been an initiative within the Europe Against Cancer Programme. The fourth edition of the multidisciplinary guidelines was published in 2006 and comprises ~400 pages divided into 12 chapters prepared by >200 authors and contributors. The multidisciplinary editorial board has prepared a summary document to provide an overview of the fundamental points and principles that should support any quality screening or diagnostic service. This document includes a summary table of key performance indicators and is presented here in order to make these principles and standards known to a wider scientific community.

Key words: best practice, breast cancer screening, certification, multidisciplinary diagnosis, quality assurance guidelines, specialist breast units

Received for publication August 27, 2007. Accepted for publication September 11, 2007.


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