National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre (NBOCC)

Created: December 2009

1. Ovarian cancer surveillance is not recommended for women at high or potentially high risk.
2. Evidence shows that ultrasound or CA125, singly or in combination, is not effective at detecting early ovarian cancer.
3. The most effective risk reducing strategy for ovarian cancer is bilateral salpingo- oophorectomy.

Created: August 2009

This position statement and supporting background information has been endorsed by the following colleges and agencies: the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Australian Society Gynaecologic Oncologists, Cancer Council Australia, the Screening Subcommittee of the Department of Health and Ageing, and The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.

Updated: December 2009

This position statement applies only to Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and breast cancer risk in women – it does not address other risks or benefits to women from HRT usage.

Created: February 2008
Based on evidence as at December 2006

This document provides a summary of findings from a search of the English language literature to examine the putative association between diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure in utero and invasive breast cancer.

Developed by National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre
Created: January 2008
Endorsed by the Cancer Institute NSW and The Cancer Council Australia
Based on published evidence to October 2007.

Mammography screening has been shown in field trials to reduce death rates from female breast cancer.^1-11 This reduction has been estimated by an Expert Group of the International Agency for Research on Cancer to approximate 35% among 50-69 year old women who participate in regular screening.¹² Evaluation of mammography screening services introduced in many countries following these trials, including BreastScreen services in New South Wales and South Australia, indicates mortality reductions of a similar magnitude to those seen in the trials.^3-17

by the Breast Section of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

October 2005

In 2002 the Executive Committee of the Breast Section of the RACS developed a position statement on sentinel node biopsy (SNB). At that time SNB was still being evaluated in clinical trials around the world, including our own SNAC trial. The 2002 position statement indicated that SNB should only be promoted in the context of a randomised clinical trial. If it was to be done outside of this scenario then the woman should be informed of the limitations of the technique, the lack of long term data, as well as the surgeon’s own results with the technique. We now feel that the position statement needs to be updated, as new data has become available, and the SNAC trial has completed accrual. This updated statement should be reflective of the current safe use of the technique and should be noted by breast surgeons who offer the technique to women with early breast cancer, depending on their own circumstances and experience.

Updated: December 2009

This position statement applies to screening methods for the early detection of breast cancer in asymptomatic women (women without breast changes). The statement does not apply to diagnostic tests used to assess individual women presenting with breast changes.

Reviewed: February 2010

National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre does not recommend the use of thermography for the early detection of breast cancer.

Breast thermography, also known as thermal breast imaging, is a technique that produces “heat pictures” of the breast. The rationale for thermography in breast imaging is that the skin overlying a malignant breast lesion can be warmer than that of surrounding areas.