Doctors and scientists at the University of California, San Francisco are creating a breast imaging registry to learn more about mammograms, ultrasound, breast magnetic resonance imaging, and breast health. The main goals of the registry are to better understand how well breast imaging tests find breast cancer in women of various ages, ethnicity and breast cancer risk. We hope to learn more about how mammograms, ultrasound, and breast magnetic resonance imaging can best detect breast cancer and what characteristics of women and tumors influence detection.
All women having breast imaging tests (mammograms, ultrasound, breast magnetic resonance imaging) at participating radiology practices in the San Francisco Bay Area are asked to participate. Women are asked to complete a one page Breast Health History Questionnaire. Radiology information is provided by each radiology facility. The SFMR obtains breast cancer information from the state cancer registry in order to evaluate how well breast imaging tests find breast cancer.
SFMR scientists belong to the National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium, which pools information from mammography registries across the United States for analysis and publication in scientific journals. All information combined by SFMR and consortium scientists for publication use statistical totals and averages only. All information is kept confidential and is protected by a National Institutes of Health Federal Certificate of Confidentiality and Memorandum of Understanding with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The National Cancer Institute, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, ChevronTexaco Corporation, and the County of Marin Department of Health and Human Services have provided funding to support the SFMR.