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The article discusses a study that examines the accuracy of preoperative staging of axillary lymph node involvement in patients with primary breast cancer based on preoperative ultrasound (US) with or without fire needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). Highlights include the prevalence of macrometastases in the axillary lymph nodes, the number of patients who were defined as true node-negative, and the sensitivity of the combined preoperative examination including US and FNAC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Symptomatic breast cancers may be more aggressive as compared to screen-detected breast cancers. This could favor axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in patients with symptomatic breast cancer and positive sentinel nodes. Method: We identified 955 patients registered in the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group (DBCG) Database in 2008 – 2010 with micrometastases (773) or isolated tumor cells (ITC) (182) in the sentinel node. Patients were cross-checked in the Danish Quality Database of Mammography Screening and 481 patients were identified as screen-detected cancers. The remaining 474 patients were considered as having symptomatic cancers. Multivariate analyses of the risk of non-sentinel node metastases were performed including known risk factors for non-sentinel node metastases as well as method of detection. Results: 18% of the patients had metastases in non-sentinel nodes. This was evenly distributed between patients with symptomatic and screen-detected cancers; 18.5% vs 17.5% (OR 1.07; 95% CI 0.77–1.49;p = 0.69). In patients with micrometastases 21% had non-sentinel node metastases in the group with symptomatic cancers compared to 19% of patients with screen-detected cancers. This difference was not significant (OR 1.16; 95% CI 0.81–1.65,p = 0.43). Neither the multivariate analysis showed an increased risk of non-sentinel node metastases in patients with symptomatic cancers compared to screen-detected cancers (OR 1.12, CI 0.77–1.62,p = 0.55). In patients with ITCs 8% of patients with symptomatic cancers had non-sentinel node metastases compared to 13% of patients with screen-detected cancers. This difference was not significant (OR 0.58; 95% CI 0.22–1.54,p = 0.27). In the multivariate analysis, the risk of non-sentinel node metastases was still not significantly increased in patients with symptomatic cancers compared to screen-detected cancers (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.16–1.27,p = 0.13). Conclusion: We did not find any clinically relevant difference in the risk of non-sentinel node metastases between patients with symptomatic and screen-detected cancers with micrometastases or ITC in the sentinel node. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on how data from the clinical database and of how biological material from the Danish Breast Cancer Cooperative Group tumor bank has been used for correlative research studies. Topics mentioned include the Danish Pathology Registry, the use of Danish Civil Registration Number assigned to all Danish residents, and requests for access to data from the clinical database. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background. Long-term data on breast cancer detection in mammography screening programs are warranted to better understand the mechanisms by which screening changes the breast cancer pattern in the population. We aimed to analyze 17 years of breast cancer detection rates inside and outside screening in two Danish regions, emphasizing the influence of organizational differences of screening programs on the outcomes. Material and methods. We used data from two long-standing population-based mammography screening programs, Copenhagen and Fyn, in Denmark. Both programs offered biennial screening to women aged 50-69 years. We identified targeted, eligible, invited and participating women. We calculated screening detection and interval cancer rates for participants, and breast cancer incidence in non-screened women (= targeted women excluding participants) by biennial invitation rounds. Tumor characteristics were tabulated for each of the three groups of cancers. Results. Start of screening resulted in a prevalence peak in participants, followed by a decrease to a fairly stable detection rate in subsequent invitation rounds. A similar pattern was found for breast cancer incidence in non-screened women. In Fyn, non-screened women even had a higher rate than screening participants during the first three invitation rounds. The interval cancer rate was lower in Copenhagen than in Fyn, with an increase over time in Copenhagen, but not in Fyn. Screen-detected cancers showed tumor features related with a better prognosis than tumors detected otherwise, as more than 80% were smaller than 20 mm and estrogen receptor positive. Conclusion. Data from two long-standing population-based screening programs in Denmark illustrated that even if background breast cancer incidence and organization were rather similar, performance indicators of screening could be strongly influenced by inclusion criteria and participation rates. Detection rates should be interpreted with caution as they may be biased by selection into the screening population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. There is an ongoing debate concerning possible disadvantages of mammography screening, one being the consequence of receiving a false positive test-result. It is argued that receiving a false positive answer may have short- and/or long-term adverse psychological effects on women, but results from different studies are conflicting. We tested if there was a difference in continued participation behaviour between the group of women who have been subject to a false positive result and those who have not. Material and methods. The study used the registers from the first six invitation rounds of the mammography screening programme in Copenhagen (1991-2003). We estimated the relative risk of not participating in the subsequent screening round for women with a false positive test using women with a negative test as baseline. As outcome measure odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used. Results. There was no significant difference in participation in the subsequent round between women with a false positive test and women with a negative test. The proportion of screens resulting in false positive answers, both after assessment and after surgery, decreased from 5.54% in Round 1 to 1.79% in Round 5. Participation in the subsequent screening round was well above 80% in all five screening rounds. Discussion. Our results showed that women experiencing a false positive test at mammography screening participated in the subsequent screening round to the same extent as did women experiencing a negative screening test, regardless of whether the false positive statement was given following assessment or following surgery. The benign to malignant biopsy ratio, comparing the type B false positives to the true positives, was by the fifth round well below the desirable level of ≤1:4, recommended by the European guidelines. Other possible adverse effects should be further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor in response to the article "Influence of mammography screening on use of mastectomies in Denmark" by K. Jørgensen and others in a 2015 issue is presented.