Breast Cancer Screening Program in Lithuania: Interval Cancers and Program Sensitivity After 7 Years of Mammography Screening

OBJECTIVE: Analysis of interval cancers is critical in determining the sensitivity of screening and represents an objective measure of the quality of mammography screening program (MSP). METHODS: Period analyzed: from 2006 to 2012. The rate of screen-detected, interval cancers and program sensitivity were measured. A comparison of screen-detected and interval cancers was performed. RESULTS: During the period of the study, 429 473 women were screened and 1297 were found to have cancer. The overall screen-detected cancer rate was 30.2 per 10 000 women screened. Four hundred thirty-one case of interval cancers have occurred during the period of the study. The interval cancer ratio (ICR) was 0.25. Overall sensitivity of MSP amounted to 75.1%. Slightly lower sensitivity was found among the youngest age-group, especially for those with lobular cancers. Interval cancers were bigger in size, more often with metastases in lymph nodes, than screen-detected cancers, but these differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Overall program sensitivity in Lithuania is about 75%, ICR is 0.25, and these parameters are comparable to other European countries.