Breast screening After Radiotherapy Dataset (BARD)

Patients cured of a first cancer are often at an increased risk of developing a second primary cancer. This is demonstrated as a late treatment effect in female survivors of lymphoma (and occasionally other cancers) who received radiotherapy to the chest (breast tissue) when aged between 10 to 35 years, and whose subsequent risk of breast cancer is raised.

The Breast screening After Radiotherapy Dataset (BARD) is a confidential database of women in England who have received radiotherapy involving breast tissue when aged between 10 to 35 years, which aims to improve long term outcomes in this patient population. It has been set up to ensure all patients at increased risk of breast cancer following radiotherapy are offered breast screening in line with national guidelines. It is also helping to ensure that patients are provided with the relevant information about the risk of breast cancer after radiotherapy, breast screening and research in the field.

Current national guidelines recommend that screening should start at age 25 or 30, or 8 years after radiotherapy to breast tissue (depending on circumstances), whichever occurs later. In addition to making sure that patients are referred for screening at the right time (i.e. when they become eligible), BARD will allow the effectiveness of screening to be monitored long term.

BARD is a partnership programme with the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS), The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and The University of Manchester.

The image below shows the logos of the BARD partnership organisations - the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS), The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and The University of Manchester.

The BARD database has been created by identifying eligible women from the cancer registry data held by NDRS. There are approximately 6000 women under 36 who received radiotherapy for lymphoma in the NDRS cancer registry data and appropriate records have been used to create the BARD database. 

Find out more about how NDRS supports BARD by reading the BARD Data Story. 

View the collaborative NDRS and BARD data webinar from September 2021. 

Having breast screening from an earlier age is entirely your choice. Choosing not to have screening doesn’t affect any other aspect of your healthcare.

If a patient does not wish to be included in the BARD database please let the team know by sending an opt out request email to [email protected] – please include your name and NHS number. This is a secure email account to which personal details can be sent safely. The BARD team will then ensure that these details are removed from the dataset. 

Patients who request removal of their name from BARD will still receive an invitation for routine breast screening that commences between the ages of 50 to 53, and is offered every 3 years to all women until age 70. 

Patients who decide not to have additional screening from an earlier age (i.e. opt out now) but later change their mind are still able to be invited from that point in time. To reverse an opt out contact BARD by emailing [email protected] with the patient name and NHS number.

Patients who would like to opt out of having data included in the cancer registry need to opt out directly with the NDRS. Visit the patient opt out page for more information.

Visit the BARD information webpage on the Christie NHS Foundation Trust website

Contact the BARD project team by emailing [email protected]