[Breast cancer: generalised screening in France from now on]

With the first randomised screening trials for breast cancer having proved in the 1980s the efficacity of screening, a more ambitious programme has been put in place in France from 1989 to 2001. Based on existing radiological structures, it consists of one image per breast, 2 readings, every 3 years. The management is departmental. It is rapidly completed by quality assurance programmes of the radiology companies. The evaluation of the screening programme has been undertaken by the VS since 1998 and uses the European indicators of efficacity. The results, heterogenous at the beginning, later improved: from 1990 to 1998, the percentage of small size invasive cancers or those equal to 10 mm increased from 30% to 35%, and the second reading has permitted, according to the departments, the detection of 10% to 25% of supplementary cancers. In 1999, the screening was modified: 2 images per breast, 2 readings [corrected] The protocol published in 2001 involves a clinical examination by a radiologist, 2 (or 3) images per breast, 2 readings if the examination is normal [corrected] The second reading is centralised and made by a specialised radiologist [corrected] The place for ultrasound and numerical mammography hasn't yet been defined. Since the beginning of 2004, the generalisation of the screening programme has been effective in France.