First organized screening mammography programme in Saudi Arabia: preliminary analysis of pilot round

The aim of this study was to analyse results of the pilot screening round for Al-Qassim Screening Mammography Programme and compare with international standards. Analysis was conducted in the central screening office in Prince Faisal Oncology Centre, which coordinates activities of various screening units. Data were collected during the period 1 January 2007 to 30 June 2008. Organizational and functional information was obtained from policy and procedure manuals of the programme. Out of 9812 eligible women, 1766 (18%) participated and data were available for 1628 (16.6%). The median age of participants was 47 (standard deviation 8.12) years. The low uptake rate (18%) and a high recall rate (31.6%) characterized the pilot screening round. Biopsy rate was 1.5% and cancer detection rate was 0.24%. Many performance indicators in this pilot screening round were not available. Many of the available indicators did not meet international standards.