[Mammotest and breast cancer screening]

Breast cancer screening programmes have been integrated in a systematic way into the public health policies of numerous countries. Breast cancer is indeed one of the (rare) health issues which answers the criteria necessary to organize a screening on a large scale. The different methods of diagnosis and the results of various strategies (based on randomized controlled trials and meta-analysis) are described and compared. This reveals that the Belgian policy in this matter is and remains founded today: a standardized mammotest every 2 years for all women from 50 to 69.