Written question asked by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 October 2006. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Wednesday, 8 November 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Breast Cancer

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether she has any plans to extend the use of ultrasound scans to detect breast cancer; and if she will make a statement.

Answer: There is some evidence of the benefit of ultrasound in the primary screening of younger women at increased risk of breast cancer. However, ultrasound does produce high false positive rates and while ultrasound is accepted as a very effective technique for further assessment of abnormalities detected by mammogram there are no plans to extend the use of ultrasound scans to detect breast cancer.In their ‘Improving outcomes in breast cancer guidance’, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has recommended that a combination of clinical examination, mammography/ultrasound and image-guided core biopsy or fine needle aspiration, known together as the triple assessment, should be available for women with suspected breast cancer at a single visit. Both mammography and ultrasound imaging should be available.

Secondary information