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Mortality and recurrence patterns of breast cancer patients diagnosed under a screening programme versus comparable non-screened breast cancer patients from the same population: analytical survey from 2002 to 2012

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Breast cancer screening programmes seem to bring about significant benefits, including decreased mortality, although they may also have some drawbacks such as false-negative and false-positive results. This study aims to compare the clinical outcome of a group of patients undergoing a breast cancer screening programme with that of a synchronous non-screened group of patients matched for age and follow-up period. We studied basic characteristics of epidemiology, immunohistochemistry, loco-regional relapse, distant metastases, disease-free interval and overall and specific mortality. We compared 510 patients in the screened group with 394 non-screened patients, along the period of 2002–2012. Screening was applied on a target population of 49,847 and was based on double-projection, double-read mammograms. Two years were allowed per round. Overall participation for the five rounds considered was 75.2 %, with 86.5 % coverage, and a total cumulative population of 123,445. The non-participant women amounted 40,794. Tumour detection rate for the screened women was 3.8 per thousand (475/123,445), while the corresponding rate for non-participants was 9.4 per thousand (382/40,797). Incidence of luminal A subtype was 15 % higher in screened than that in non-screened patients (95 % confidence interval (CI) 8–22 %). Conversely, the triple-negative subtype was 6 % higher in the non-screened group (95 % CI 2–10 %). Incidence of breast conservative treatments and sentinel node biopsies was significantly higher in the screened group. Overall mortality was 2.6 times higher in non-screened than that in screened group (95 % CI 1.2–5.6) After 10 years of experience with our own screening programme, we believe that included patients receive a benefit versus comparable non-screened breast cancer patients, with acceptable benefit-risk relation.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Ms. Patricia Vigués for correcting the manuscript, Mr. Manel Martori for helping up with tables and graphs and, finally, the staff of the Breast Cancer Screening Unit: Cristina Matarín, Pilar Cardenas, Sandra Carmona and Xavier Fuertes as well as to the staff of the Pathology Department: Francisca Perarnau, María Teresa Blanco and Maribel Baldellon; all of them are essential contributors keeping our breast cancer database updated.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Breast Unit, Department of Gynecology, University Hospital of Mútua Terrassa, Research Foundation Mútua Terrassa, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    A. García Fernández, M. Torras & I Barco

  2. Department of Gynecology, Catalan Institute of Health, Mollet del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain

    A. García Fernández

  3. Department of Nursing, School of Health Science, TechnoCampus Mataró-Maresme, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Chabrera

  4. Department of Hematology/Oncology, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Chabrera

  5. University International of Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    M. García Font

  6. Nuclear Medicine Department, Diagnostic Technology Center (CTD), University Hospital of Mútua Terrassa, Research Foundation Mútua Terrassa, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Fraile

  7. Breast Unit, Department of Gynecology, Hospital of Terrassa, Health Consortium of Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain

    J. M. Lain & C. Corral

  8. Department of Hemato-oncology, University Hospital of Mútua Terrassa, Research Foundation Mútua Terrassa, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    S. Gónzalez

  9. Department of Radiology, University Hospital of Mútua Terrassa, Research Foundation Mútua Terrassa, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    J. Torres

  10. Breast Unit, Department of Radiology, Hospital of Terrassa, Health Consortium of Terrassa, Terrassa, Spain

    M. Teixido

  11. Department of Health, Technical Secretary of CatSalut, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    R. López

  12. Breast Unit, Department of Pathology, University Hospital of Mútua Terrassa, Research Foundation Mútua Terrassa, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    C. Gónzalez

  13. Department of Gynecology, CTD, University Hospital of Mútua Terrassa, Research Foundation Mútua Terrassa, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    A. Pessarrodona

  14. Research Unit, Research Foundation Mútua Terrassa, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    N. Giménez

  15. Laboratory of Toxicology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    N. Giménez

  16. OTC Programa Detección Precoz Cáncer de Mama, University Hospital of Mútua Terrassa, University of Barcelona, C/ Sant Antoni 20, 08221, Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

    A. García Fernández

Authors
  1. A. García Fernández
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  2. C. Chabrera
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  3. M. García Font
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  4. M. Fraile
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  5. J. M. Lain
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  6. S. Gónzalez
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  7. C. Corral
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  8. M. Torras
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  9. J. Torres
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  10. M. Teixido
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  11. I Barco
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  12. R. López
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  13. C. Gónzalez
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  14. A. Pessarrodona
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  15. N. Giménez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. García Fernández.

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García Fernández, A., Chabrera, C., García Font, M. et al. Mortality and recurrence patterns of breast cancer patients diagnosed under a screening programme versus comparable non-screened breast cancer patients from the same population: analytical survey from 2002 to 2012. Tumor Biol. 35, 1945–1953 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1260-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1260-7

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