Still Controversial: Early Detection and Screening for Breast Cancer in Brazil, 1950-2010s.

Mammographic screening for breast cancer is a widely used public health approach, but is constantly a subject of controversy. Medical and historical research on this topic has been mainly conducted in Western Europe and North America. In Brazil, screening mammography has been an open topic of discussion and a challenge for health care and public health since the 1970s. Effectively, Brazilian public health agencies never implemented a nationwide population-based screening programme for breast cancer, despite the pressures of many specific groups such as advocacy associations and the implementation of local programmes. This article examines the complex process of incorporating mammography as a diagnostic tool and the debates towards implementing screening programmes in Brazil. We argue that debates about screening for breast malignancies, especially those conducted in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, took place in a context of change and uncertainty in the Brazilian health field. These discussions were strongly affected both by tensions between the public and the private health care sectors during the formative period of a new Brazilian health system, and by the growing role of civil society actors. Our study investigates these tensions and their consequences. We use several medical sources that discussed the topic in Brazil, mainly specialised leading oncology journals published between 1950 and 2017, medical congress reports for the same period, books and theses, institutional documents and oral testimonies of health professionals, patients and associations collected in the framework of the 'The History of Cancer' project from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and Brazilian National Cancer Institute.

Teixeira LADS ，Araújo Neto LA 《-》

Julian Robert Frayne (1935-2015).

ApSimon T 《-》

Geographical and socioeconomic differences in uptake of Pap test and mammography in Italy: results from the National Health Interview Survey.

The Italian National Health Service instituted cervical and breast cancer screening programmes in 1999; the local health authorities have a mandate to implement these screening programmes by inviting all women aged 25-64 years for a Pap test every 3 years (or for an Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) test every 5 years) and women aged 50-69 years for a mammography every 2 years. However, the implementation of screening programmes throughout the country is still incomplete. This study aims to: (1) describe cervical and breast cancer screening uptake and (2) evaluate geographical and individual socioeconomic difference in screening uptake. Data both from the Italian National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) conducted by the National Institute of Statistics in 2012-2013 and from the Italian National Centre for Screening Monitoring (INCSM) were used. The NHIS interviewed a national representative random sample of 32 831 women aged 25-64 years and of 16 459 women aged 50-69 years. Logistic multilevel models were used to estimate the effect of socioeconomic variables and behavioural factors (level 1) on screening uptake. Data on screening invitation coverage at the regional level, taken from INCSM, were used as ecological (level 2) covariates. Total 3-year Pap test and 2-year mammography uptake were 62.1% and 56.4%, respectively; screening programmes accounted for 1/3 and 1/2 of total test uptake, respectively. Strong geographical differences were observed. Uptake was associated with high educational levels, healthy behaviours, being a former smoker and being Italian versus foreign national. Differences in uptake between Italian regions were mostly explained by the invitation coverage to screening programmes. The uptake of both screening programmes in Italy is still under acceptable levels. Screening programme implementation has the potential to reduce the health inequalities gap between regions but only if uptake increases.

Petrelli A ，Giorgi Rossi P ，Francovich L ，Giordani B ，Di Napoli A ，Zappa M ，Mirisola C ，Gargiulo L ... -  《-》

The evolution of breast imaging: past to present.

Joe BN ，Sickles EA 《-》

Medical Myths and Legends: Presidential Address to the Ulster Medical Society. 6th October 2016.

Morrison PJ 《-》