H J de Koning

..Early detection and counselling is expected to reduce the prevalence of asthma symptoms and improve health-related quality of life at age 6 years...

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..A summary of the prerequisites for methodological quality and its available evidence from the trials is given. Data to support breast cancer mortality as a correct outcome measure are presented...

..The increases in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are primarily due to mammography screening, but DCIS still remains a relatively small proportion of the total breast cancer problem...

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..Coping style was not associated with the trend of psychological distress around the two surveillance appointments. It is recommendable to take coping styles into account when counselling these high-risk women...

..On a national scale, with hundreds of professional practitioners, it can be expected to be more difficult to attain uniform quality. Continuous quality control, monitoring and evaluation are therefore crucial...

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..MRI provided the most reassurance of breast cancer being absent in case of a favourable test result. MRI seems to be acceptable as a screening test for women at increased breast cancer risk and is preferred by them over mammography...

..Surveillance consists of biannual physical examination, annual mammography, annual MRI and monthly breast self-examination (BSE)...

..The purpose of this study was to evaluate baseline health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with localized prostate cancer before primary treatment (radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy)...

..In subjects with either an indeterminate or a negative result after screening, we investigated whether health-related quality of life (HRQoL) changed over time and differed between groups in the short term...

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..Results of the NELSON trial will be roughly applicable to the Dutch and probably other populations that fulfil our selection criteria...

..The aim is to include 2,500 women. The study started on 1 November 1999. On 1 January 2002, more than 1,700 women, including 210 proven carriers of a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, were included in the study...

..We estimated benefits and adverse effects of PSA screening for individuals who are deciding whether or not to be screened...

..In this study, the trial is simulated in order to gain insight into the results of the trial and to predict the effect of different screening intervals on breast cancer mortality...

..Overdetection and overtreatment are substantial unfavourable side effects with consequent healthcare costs. In this study the effects of introducing widespread PSA screening is evaluated...

..g. the EQ-5D) and linking these descriptions to utility estimates using the standard preference-based algorithm, combining them with the appropriate duration into quality-adjusted life years, and sensitivity analysis...

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..Interval cancer rates, results of the subsequent round and size distributions are also crucial indicators of the quality of the screening programme and should be analysed in their specific context...

..Opportunistic screening was not clearly demonstrated in adjacent age groups...

..It is evident that breast cancer screening contributes to a reduction in advanced breast cancers and breast cancer mortality...

..Measures should be considered to improve the detection of small invasive cancers and to reduce false-negative rates, even if this will lead to increasing referral rates...

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..In conclusion, although adjuvant systemic therapy can reduce breast cancer mortality rates, it is anticipated to be less than the mortality reduction caused by mammography screening...

..In this study, high-risk women who opted for regular breast cancer screening had a better health status than women from the general population...

..To describe the variation in PSA level by age group and screening round in the ERSPC centres and the variation in cancer detection rates in relation to the underlying prostate cancer incidence...

..STAI-State can be a useful screening tool but needs further development...

..To assess the psychometric properties of a Dutch adaptation of an originally Australian instrument measuring the psychological impact of breast cancer screening...

..Screening test outcomes could be used as a teachable moment for smoking cessation...

..The model fits in the actual tobacco-control scenario, providing credibility to the estimates of other scenarios, although considering survey-reported smoking trends alone has limitations...

..Integrated approaches to combine primary and secondary prevention have the potential to optimise the efforts to improve cancer prevention and survival. More research is warranted to investigate evidence-based approaches...

..Because the radiation risk increases with lower exposure age, advancing the lower age limit may affect the balance between screening benefits and risks. The present study explores the benefit-risk ratio of screening before age 50...

..Given the rapidity of change towards the use of breast-conserving surgery, which is enhanced by screening, recent information will be needed in predicting capacity and assessing whether screen-detected women are treated adequately...

..The area under the ROC curves, ranged from 0.75 to 0.87. Apparently, short and simple parent report instruments like the LSI-PF and the one-item VAS perform remarkably well in detecting language delays in preschool children...

..Our results imply that the final outcome of a lung cancer screening trial cannot reliably be established without predetermined criteria and an independent review of blinded cases...

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..To estimate the mean lead-time and rate of over-detection associated with screening for prostate cancer with prostate-specific antigen...

..Statistical models have been proposed to predict indolent cancer. We validated and updated model predictions for a screening setting...

..The PSA velocity did not appear to be a useful screening tool for the identification of these cancers...

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..In addition, the accuracy of the randomisation was evaluated by comparison amongst the trial arms...

..Short-term health benefits could not be demonstrated. Large-scale introduction cannot be recommended on the basis of this information alone...

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..The second was to compare the contents of decision-relevant knowledge for second-trimester ultrasound screening with those for first-trimester screening for Down syndrome using the combined test...

..Additional efforts are required to improve the knowledge and understanding of subjects who are in the process of decision-making regarding participation in a lung cancer screening trial...

..We aimed at developing and testing a Dutch health-related quality of life measure for localized prostate cancer patients...

..This study applied Internet-tailored advice for schoolchildren and Internet-supported brief dietary counselling (with child and parent) within preventive health care to promote fruit/vegetable intake...

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..Growing lesions with a volume doubling time <400 days require further work-up and diagnosis, otherwise an annual repeat scan to assess growth is recommended...

..We prospectively examined the effects on screening performance of adding independent double reading of screening mammograms by technologists to standard double reading by radiologists...

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..The goal of this study was to assess the effects of screening and early treatment of preschool children for language delay on language development and school performance at age 8...

..Estimates and comparisons of the cost-effectiveness of feasible breast cancer screening policies in developing countries and identification of the determinants of cost and efficacy are needed...

..The results indicate an impressive decrease in breast cancer mortality in the age group invited for breast cancer screening, starting to show quite soon after implementation...

..To retrospectively assess volume measurement variability in solid pulmonary nodules (volume, 15-500 mm(3)) detected at lung cancer screening and to quantify the independent effects of nodule morphology, size, and location...

..In the current study, the authors assessed the discomfort associated with CT scanning and the subsequent wait for results and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) over time...

..0 days (95% C.I. 5.9-8.1) in symptomatic screened patients and 6.0 days (95% C.I. 4.0-8.0) in control patients. Our results show that false reassurance played, at most, only a minor role in breast cancer screening...

..Although the reasons for ordering PSA test or indicating biopsy are unknown, effective PSA contamination in the Rotterdam ERSPC section is low and not likely to jeopardize the power of the trial...

..To determine the effect of introducing radiographer double reading, in addition to standard radiologist double reading, on screening mammography outcome...

..We assessed if urinary, bowel, and sexual dysfunction and associated bother were part of the "normal" aging process in the general male Dutch population...

..The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that screening for scoliosis is effective in reducing the need for surgical treatment...

..Whether a prostate cancer diagnosis induces response shift has not been established so far. Therefore, we assessed response shift in men who were diagnosed with localized prostate cancer...

..In a prospective, multi-institutional follow-up study we describe the trends in the preoperative pathologic confirmation of breast cancer of women who underwent breast cancer screening between 1995 and 2005...

..When pooling with Danish trial data (n = +/-4,000) NELSON is the only trial without screening in controls that is expected to have 80% power to show a lung cancer mortality reduction of at least 25% 10 years after randomisation...

..To estimate the effect of changes in recall rate on earlier detection of cancers, we carried out a blinded review of interval and screen-detected cancers in the Dutch screening program...

..Scores of both patient groups remained above those of norm populations. Innovative graphs describing disease-specific and generic functions after treatment can help patients and physicians in their treatment choices...

..Being at hereditary risk of breast cancer (BC) may lead to elevated levels of distress because of the impact of the BC-process in relatives...

..Furthermore, it compares adolescents' evaluations of modes of administration...

..This knowledge should be used during surveillance appointments in order to improve and individualise support for these women...

..4 percent (P<0.001) and 56.4 percent (P=0.001) in the two control groups. CONCLUSIONS: MRI appears to be more sensitive than mammography in detecting tumors in women with an inherited susceptibility to breast cancer...

..6-34.1%. Enrolled women had above average risk. Screening sensitivity in both arms was high. A benefit of mammography screening is supported by our modeling of the CNBSS-2 results...

..The aim of this review is to discuss advances in the field of screening and early detection of prostate cancer from papers published in 2003...

..Both consequences have considerable impact on the net benefits of screening...

..INTERPRETATION: Routine mammography screening can reduce breast-cancer mortality rates in women aged 55-74 years...

..The inadequacy of the unit 'Pack-Years' (PY) to estimate the individual lung cancer risk is recognised, and future initiatives to develop an appropriate lung cancer risk model are encouraged...

..If early detection and treatment turns out to have a stronger effect as may be suggested by observational data, the ERSPC trial is likely to conclusively show that within the next 5 years...

..The course of general distress differed significantly for women closely involved in a sister's BC-process. These more vulnerable subgroups may be in need of extra counselling and care...

..CONCLUSIONS: Although a favorable shift in prognostic factors was seen for the screening arm of the trial, these results do not provide evidence that prostate cancer screening has an effect on prostate cancer mortality...

..It is recommended that the screening frequency should be adjusted according to a woman's age and a high-sensitive biannual test may be appropriate before the age of 40 years...

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..Tumors dedifferentiate during the screen-detectable phase and consequently screening with PSA and early treatment can possibly prevent dedifferentiation...

..By presenting these findings we want to draw attention to issues that complicate QoL assessments in general and in prostate cancer patients in particular...

..227) and for women with a low breast density (0.237). CONCLUSIONS: This report supports the earlier recommendation that MRI should be a standard screening method for breast cancer in BRCA1/2 mutation carriers...

..As results of these subsequent screening rounds were most predictive for long-term effects, the authors expect that this screening program will contribute to a decrease of breast cancer mortality in these high-risk women...

..We conclude that short-term differences in HRQoL after treatment in adolescent patients with idiopathic scoliosis are negligible and cannot support preference of one treatment above the other...

..This study investigated whether patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis detected by screening are detected in an earlier stage of the clinical course, and whether these patients have better outcome than otherwise detected patients...

..These results provide additional evidence for the importance of monitoring the language development and its consequences during childhood...

..05). In conclusion, decreases in HRQOL among preschoolers with parent-reported respiratory symptoms are measurable with the TAPQOL. We recommend studying the impact of doctor-diagnosed respiratory symptoms on HRQOL in future studies...

..At present, 75 years of age can be regarded as an appropriate upper age limit for the Dutch programme...

..The differences between countries seem to reflect both underlying prostate cancer incidence and screening policy. The trials have the power to show definitive results in 2005-2008...

..The methodological implication is that considering a post-diagnosis assessment as 'baseline' may lead to an underestimation of the patient's mental health...

..Finally the model will be used to identify optimal screening and treatment strategies. ..