[Analysis of mammograms performed in a public imaging center in Santiago, Metropolitan Region Chile 2008-2018]

Mammograms are one of the most effective preventive means for the early detection of breast cancer.

To describe the features of patients and results of mammograms performed at a public breast imaging service of the Santiago Metropolitan Area.

We reviewed the reports of mammograms performed on 174,017 women and 18 men, between 2008 and 2018 in an Imaging Center. The BI-RADS classification was used in the reports.

Forty-six percent of mammograms (75,781) were reported as BI-RADS 2. The high proportion of BI-RADS 4 reports (674 reports) was seen in patients aged 40 to 49 years, corresponding to 30% of reports in this age range. Among patients aged 50 to 59 years, there were 779 BI-RADS 4 reports (35%). BI-RADS 5 reports were more common among patients aged 50 to 59 years (50 reports, 30%) and among patients aged 70 years or older (83 reports, 28%).

The presence of a significant number of women between 40 and 49 years of age with a BI-RADS 4 mammography result stands out; being an opportunity to develop new clinical research and public health strategies within the framework of the Universal Health Care policy for breast cancer in Chile.