Induced costs of low-cost screening mammography.

Telephone follow-up in a recent low-cost (50) mammography screening project in Orange County, California, was done to determine the detection rate and the induced costs of detection of small breast cancers. Because 403 of 2, 261 (18%) women screened required additional evaluation and the cost of evaluation per abnormal mammogram averaged 607, the actual cost per cancer detected was 25, 500. At least five cancers were detected per 1, 000 women screened, and only 17% of the cancers involved the axillary lymph nodes. The costs of screening mammograms accounted for less than one-third of total costs, with surgical consultations and biopsies for benign disease representing the major induced costs of screening.