open access
Mammography screening — a recognised standard
open access
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common global malignancy found in women and likewise so in Poland; newly diagnosed cases being respectively ≈ 1.7 million and 17 thousand annually. For the last 30 years, population screening has been adopted in the developed world. In Poland, breast screening attendance is however around 45%, what is still lower than in highly developed countries (above 70%). Breast cancer mortality has also declined more slowly in Poland. Following the introduction of breast screening, the rapid decreases in mortality demonstrated in Western Europe and the USA prove its effectiveness. Observations and data accumulated over many years through screening have nevertheless generated debate regarding overdiagnosis and overtreatment of breast cancer. This issue has been summarised in the WHO Position Paper that recommends continuing breast screening whilst also ensuring that patients are able to make informed decisions.
Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common global malignancy found in women and likewise so in Poland; newly diagnosed cases being respectively ≈ 1.7 million and 17 thousand annually. For the last 30 years, population screening has been adopted in the developed world. In Poland, breast screening attendance is however around 45%, what is still lower than in highly developed countries (above 70%). Breast cancer mortality has also declined more slowly in Poland. Following the introduction of breast screening, the rapid decreases in mortality demonstrated in Western Europe and the USA prove its effectiveness. Observations and data accumulated over many years through screening have nevertheless generated debate regarding overdiagnosis and overtreatment of breast cancer. This issue has been summarised in the WHO Position Paper that recommends continuing breast screening whilst also ensuring that patients are able to make informed decisions.
Keywords
breast cancer, population screening, overdiagnosis
Title
Mammography screening — a recognised standard
Journal
Nowotwory. Journal of Oncology
Issue
Article type
Other materials agreed with the Editors
Pages
418-421
Published online
2017-03-29
Page views
837
Article views/downloads
985
DOI
Bibliographic record
Nowotwory. Journal of Oncology 2016;66(5):418-421.
Keywords
breast cancer
population screening
overdiagnosis
Authors
Joanna Didkowska
- WHO position paper on mammography screening. Geneva, 2014.
- Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Ervik M et al. GLOBOCAN 2012 v1.0, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 11. Lyon: International Agency for Research on Cancer. http://globocan.iarc.fr (31.03.2016).
- Didkowska J, Wojciechowska U. Nowotwory złośliwe w Polsce w 2013 roku. . Centrum Onkologii — Instytut im. M. Skłodowskiej-Curie, Warszawa 2015.
- Wojciechowska U, Didkowska. Zachorowania i zgony na nowotwory złośliwe w Polsce. Centrum Onkologii — Instytut im. Marii Skłodowskiej-Curie: Krajowy Rejestr Nowotworów. http:// //onkologia.org.pl/raporty/ (30.03.2016).
- World Health Organization, health statistics and information systems, mortality database. http://www-dep.iarc.fr/WHOdb/WHOdb.htm (30.03.2016).
- Rossouw JE, Anderson GL, Prentice RL, et al. Writing Group for the Women's Health Initiative Investigators. Risks and benefits of estrogen plus progestin in healthy postmenopausal women: principal results From the Women's Health Initiative randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2002; 288(3): 321–333.
- Ravdin PM, Cronin KA, Howlader N, et al. The decrease in breast-cancer incidence in 2003 in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2007; 356(16): 1670–1674.
- IARC handbooks of cancer prevention. Vol. 7: Breast cancer screening. IARC Press, Lyon 2002.
- Allemani C, Weir HK, Carreira H, et al. CONCORD Working Group. Global surveillance of cancer survival 1995-2009: analysis of individual data for 25,676,887 patients from 279 population-based registries in 67 countries (CONCORD-2). Lancet. 2015; 385(9972): 977–1010.
- Duffy S, Hill C, Esteve J. Quantitative methods for the evaluation of cancer screening. Arnold Publishers, London 2001.
- Esserman LJ, Thompson IM, Reid B, et al. Addressing overdiagnosis and overtreatment in cancer: a prescription for change. Lancet Oncol. 2014; 15(6): e234–e242.
- Merrill A, Esserman L, Morrow M. Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. New England Journal of Medicine. 2016; 374(4): 390–392.
- Duffy SW, Dibden A, Michalopoulos D, et al. Screen detection of ductal carcinoma in situ and subsequent incidence of invasive interval breast cancers: a retrospective population-based study. Lancet Oncol. 2016; 17(1): 109–114.
- Paci E, Broeders M, Hofvind S, et al. EUROSCREEN Working Group. European breast cancer service screening outcomes: a first balance sheet of the benefits and harms. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2014; 23(7): 1159–1163.