A study looking at screening for women aged 35 to 39 with a family history of breast cancer (FH - 02)

This study is trying to find out if screening women at a higher risk of breast cancer due to family history will help to save lives.

In the UK you will be automatically invited for breast cancer screening if you are between 50 and 70 years old. If you are older than this, you can request a mammogram 3 yearly.

At the moment, if you are younger than 50, have relatives who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and are concerned about your risk, either your GP or hospital consultant can refer you to your local genetics centre. Based on your family history, they will do an individual assessment of your risk of developing breast cancer. If they feel it is necessary, you will then have regular examinations and possibly mammograms. But the frequency of this screening for high risk women under 50 varies across the country, and we don't really know how helpful it is.

This study is being done to see if yearly mammograms can help save the lives of women aged 35 to 39 who are at an increased risk of developing cancer.