Who does the Screening Mammography?
In Australia, Screening Mammography is most often conducted by BreastScreen Australia as part of a National Screening program which aims to screen all women in Australia between 50 and 69 years of age. The program is freely available to ALL women over 40 years of age. Since screening mammography tries to detect very small cancers that are difficult to see or feel, the pictures or images are read by at least 2 people with expertise in reading mammograms to check them thoroughly. This is usually done by a Breast Screen Radiologist, a specialist doctor with particular training in breast imaging. Screening mammography may also be performed by radiologists outside of the BreastScreen Australia program. In New Zealand, Screening Mammography is most often conducted by BreastScreen Aotearoa and is targeted to women between the ages of 45 and 69 years. BreastScreen Aotearoa is conducted along similar lines to BreastScreen Australia.
