“Recall rate had more of an impact on interval cancer in patients who are older,” Dr. Burnside said. “The lower number of recalls required per interval cancer avoided in older women and incident screens as compared to younger women and prevalent screens, respectively, demonstrates a slightly different ‘value’ in terms of the trade-off between recall rate and interval cancers.”
The study provides evidence, Dr. Burnside said, of the potential importance of establishing and enforcing a lower threshold for recall rate.
While the study focused on the U.K. NHSBSP alone, Dr. Burnside pointed out that the methods used provide a basis for other programs to determine a minimal recall rate threshold that maximizes value for women undergoing breast cancer screening.
The study also underscores the crucial importance of comprehensive, accurate data collection of interval cancers in screening programs like the system in the U.K.
“A big-picture lesson in our study is the power of rigorous quality assurance infrastructure to help breast cancer screening programs learn from actual practice and use that information to make informed programmatic decisions for the future,” Dr. Burnside said. “This study documents the benefit of carefully tracking mammography use and outcomes as achieved in the NHSBSP.”
Additional research will help determine a specific minimum threshold for recall rate and assess the impact of digital mammography on the relationship between recall rate and interval cancers.
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