Publication details
Markov model in the evaluation of breast cancer screening program in the Czech Republic
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | TIES 2007 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Oncology and hematology |
| Keywords | breast cancer; screening; Markov model; mean sojourn time; sensitivity; interval cancers |
| Description | Breast cancer is the most common women cancer and the second most common cause of death from cancer in industrially developed countries. It has been shown with randomised trials that screening by mammography reduces by 30% mortality from breast cancer for women aged 50 years or more. In the Czech Republic, national-wide mammographic screening programme for breast cancer has started in September 2002. Generally, it is desirable to estimate the effect of screening such as the sensitivity of screening test and the average length of the preclinical detectable period (mean sojourn time) to assess the ability of screening to affect subsequent mortality. Aim of this work is to make a pilot study of the affect of screening in the Czech Republic. The study is based on the data collected with MaSc - Czech national information system for data management of National Program of Screening of Breast Cancer. The three-state Markov model has been used with states: no disease - preclinical, screen detectable disease - clinical phase. Opposite to standard practices, the knowledge of interval cases (cancers diagnosed between screens) for different age groups is not required. Number of interval cases is, unfortunately, unknown in the Czech Republic, due to the existence of screening units and diagnostic centres separately. |