Short history of mammography: a Belgian perspective.

It took the surgery community more than half a century to accept mammography. Three periods can be observed in the history of the evolution of mammography. The first one goes from 1913 to 1940, the second one from 1940 to 1970, and the third period from 1970 to the end of the century, when a high quality of mammography with an even lower dose is achieved by digital systems for both diagnostic and screening purpose.