NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approvedby the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose membersare drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences,the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosenfor their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

Support for this project was provided by The Breast Cancer ResearchFoundation, the Carl J. Herzog Foundation, Mr. John K. Castle, theJewish Healthcare Foundation (Pittsburgh), the Josiah Macy, Jr.,Foundation, the Kansas Health Foundation, and the New York CommunityTrust. The views presented in this Workshop Summary are those ofthe workshop speakers, and are not necessarily those of the Instituteof Medicine Committee on Technologies for Early Detection of BreastCancer or of the sponsors.

The full text of this Workshop Summary is available on line at www.nap.edu.

For more information about the Institute of Medicine, visit the IOMhome page at www.iom.edu.

The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledgeamong almost all cultures and religions since the beginning of recordedhistory. The serpent adopted as a logotype by the Institute of Medicineis a relief carving from ancient Greece, now held by the StaatlicheMuseen in Berlin.