Mammographic screening for breast cancer: recall rates using two views compared with the oblique view alone

Six thousand and eighty women aged 40 to 64 years were screened for breast cancer by single oblique view mammography and 908 (14.9 per cent) were recalled for further examinations. It was estimated that the use of two-view mammography for initial screening would have resulted in a fall of the number of women recalled to 581 (9.5 per cent). More recently, with better equipment and the routine use of a moving grid, the recall rate at initial singleview screening in women over the age of 50 has fallen to the region of 10 per cent. The place of two-view screening is being evaluated in conjunction with grid films and, should a similar proportional fall in recall rates be gained by the addition of a second view, there may well be a place for two-view screening in this situation too.