Impact of detection mode in a large cohort of women taking part in a breast screening program

García- Aranda, Marilina; Redondo, Maximino; Zarcos-Pedrinaci, Irene; Louro, Javier; Rivas Ruiz, Francisco; Téllez, Teresa; Pérez, Diego; Medina Cano, Francisco; Machan, Kenza; Domingo Torrell, Laia; Vernet-Tomás, Maria; Padilla-Ruiz, Maria; Castells, Xavier; Sala, Maria

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4274/ejbh.galenos.2022.2021-11-8

Impact of detection mode in a large cohort of women taking part in a breast screening program

Citation

García M, Redondo M, Zarcos I, Louro J, Rivas-Ruiz F, Téllez T, et al. Impact of detection mode in a large cohort of women taking part in a breast screening program. Eur J Breast Health. 2022 Apr 1; 18(2): 182-9. DOI: 10.4274/ejbh.galenos.2022.2021-11-8

Abstract

Objective: the aim of this study was to evaluate the existing survival rate and clinical-pathological differences among patients with breast cancer detected by mammographic screening. Materials and methods: this multicenter cohort study examined 1,248 patients who took part in a national screening program for the early detection of breast cancer over an eight-year period. Results: of the two patient subgroups (interval and screening), we found significant differences in the distribution of prognostic factors, with interval cases presenting at a lower mean age (p = 0.002), with higher percentages of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) or triple negative and lower percentages of luminal A or luminal B carcinomas (p = 0.001), advanced stages (p<0.001), lower hormone receptor expression (p<0.001), poorer differentiation (p<0.001) and lower survival (p<0.001). Among the screening group, patients with tumors detected during the first screening round had a significantly lower mean age (p<0.001), a lower frequency of comorbidities (p = 0.038) and a lower tendency (p<0.1) to be diagnosed as triple negative breast carcinomas than incident cases. Conclusion: our results highlight that breast tumors detected during the first screening round are frequently characterized by a more benign phenotype than the rest of the screening subgroups, which could be of help when stratifying the risk of death and selecting the best treatment option for each patient.