Interval Cancers in the Dutch Breast Cancer Screening Programme
Author Information
Author(s): Fracheboud J, Koning H J de, Beemsterboer P M M, Boer R, Verbeek A L M, Hendriks J H C L, Ineveld B M van, Broeders M J M, Bruyn A E de, Maas P J van der
Primary Institution: National Evaluation Team for Breast cancer screening (NETB), Erasmus University Rotterdam
Hypothesis
What is the occurrence and stage distribution of interval cancers in women screened during the Dutch breast cancer screening programme?
Conclusion
The study found that interval cancers had a more favorable tumor size distribution compared to cancers in women who were not screened.
Supporting Evidence
- The study identified 1527 interval cancers during the follow-up period.
- Interval cancers accounted for 27% of underlying incidence in the first year after initial screening.
- Interval cancers had a more favorable tumor size distribution than cancers in unscreened women.
- The Dutch programme detected fewer invasive cancers in initial screens compared to the UK programme.
Takeaway
This study looked at women who were screened for breast cancer and found that some still developed cancer in between screenings, but those cancers were often smaller and less aggressive.
Methodology
Records of 0.84 million screened women were linked to regional cancer registries for follow-up, and incidence rates were calculated for different cancer types.
Limitations
The study only assessed interval cancers from 1990-1993 and may not reflect current screening practices.
Participant Demographics
Women aged 50-69 screened in the Dutch breast cancer screening programme.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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