Overall assessment system of combined mammography and ultrasound for breast cancer screening in Japan

Mammography is the only screening method with evidence in support of reduced breast cancer mortality, but yields poor accuracy outcomes in women with dense breast tissue. The Japan Strategic Anti-cancer Randomized Trial (J-START) was conducted as part of the measures implemented to deal with women with dense breast tissue. Although the sensitivity was increased, the specificity was significantly lower in the intervention group because further examination was required in all positive cases classified by either mammography or ultrasound in the J-START. To address the issue, an overall assessment system of combined mammography and adjunctive ultrasound for breast cancer screening has been developed in Japan. The basic concept is based on a comprehensive assessment that includes a mammography assessment followed by an adjunctive assessment for ultrasound similar to the clinical setting. Currently, mammography alone is recommended for population-based breast cancer screening in Japan, but additional ultrasonography is extensively available for women, especially for women with dense breasts with shared decision-making for personalized breast cancer screening. The overall assessment system is recommended for use in Japan when breast cancer screening is conducted using both mammography and ultrasonography. In this article, we summarize the advantages of the overall assessment and the simultaneous mammography/ultrasound method, the basic approach used in Japan to assign the overall assessment category for breast cancer screening, and we outline the future directions of adjunctive screening ultrasound.