Breast cancer in Switzerland - a comparison between organized-screening versus opportunistic-screening cantons

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Riley

Switzerland remains among the few European countries without a uniform national breast cancer screening program. Using national cancer registry data, the study compares TNM tumor status of screen-detected cases from organized-screening cantons (Or-SC) with non-organized opportunistic-screening cantons (Op-SC) between 2014 and 2020. Women aged 50-69 in Op-SC show significantly larger tumors (T1-3) and a lower proportion without lymph node involvement, while M status shows no significant difference. Results support the potential benefits of organized breast screening programs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Background

Materials and methods

Results

Conclusion

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Introduction

REVIEW Breast cancer in Switzerland: a comparison between organized-screening versus opportunistic-screening cantons A. Gutzeit1, 2􀀁, P. Dubsky2, 3, S. Matoori1, 4, T. Plümecke5, J. M. Froehlich1, 2, R. Bech-Hohenberger1, S. Bucher6, A. Günthert2, B. Grüber-Hoffmann1, D. M. Koh7 & J. Diebold8, 9 1Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Cantonal hospital Schaffhausen, Schaffhausen; 2University of Lucerne, Department of Health Sciences and Medicine, Lucerne; 3St. Anna Breast Center, Hirslanden Klinik St. Anna, Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland; 4Faculté de Pharmacie, Université de Montréal, Pavillon Jean-Coutu, Montréal, Canada; 5University of Freiburg, Institute of Sociology, Freiburg, Germany; 6Breast Center, Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, Lucerne Switzerland; 7Department of Radiology, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey, UK; 8Institute of Pathology, Cantonal Hospital Lucerne; 9Cancer Registry of Central Switzerland, Lucerne, Switzerland Available online xxx Background: Switzerland is one of the few remaining European countries without a uniform national breast cancer screening program. Most Swiss cantons have initiated mammography screening programs, with the notable exceptions of the cantons of central Switzerland. The aim of this study is to compare the TNM (tumorenodeemetastasis) status in woman diagnosed with screen- and non-screen-detected breast cancers. We compare TNM of breast cancers of cantonal screening cantons (Or-SC) with organized mammographic screening and opportunisticscreening cantons (Op-SC) without organized mammographic screening. Materials and methods: We compared the TNM documented in cantons with organized screening (Or-SC) in the national cancer registry with those in the cantons of central Switzerland without organized screening (Op-SC) between 2014 and 2020 . Since 2014, a total of 19 236 patients from Or-SC and 2282 from Op-SC with breast cancer were compared. Age groups were deﬁned as younger than 50 years, between 50 and 69 years, and older than 70 years. Results: By comparison, women aged 50-69 years in the cantons of the Op-SC group exhibited signiﬁcantly larger tumors T1-3 [point estimate of the difference with 95% conﬁdence interval (CI) for T1: 􀀃7 .7%(95% CI 􀀃11 .0% to 􀀃4.4%); T2: 5.3%(95% CI 2.2% to 8.5%); T3: 2.5%(95% CI 0.8% to 4.2%)] and signiﬁcantly fewer proportion of N0 [􀀃5 .7%(95% CI 􀀃9 .0% to 􀀃2 .5%)] without signiﬁcant difference in the M status (P ¼ 0.97) . Conclusion: Our study shows that patients aged 50-69 years from Op-SC have signiﬁcantly larger tumors and higher incidence of lymph node metastases than women in the corresponding Or-SC group. This globally unique case within one single small country with very high living standards, but with different screening strategies, indicates the beneﬁts of organized breast screening programs. Key words: breast cancer screening, breast cancer, cancer stage INTRODUCTION European recommendations suggest that breast cancer screening should be organized for women between the ages of 50 and 69 years.1 Although the European Union has recommended since 2003 that states implement organizedscreening programs, individual countries in Europe have followed different strategies. Almost all European countries, however, now operate national screening programs or are about to introduce them.2 Switzerland is one of the last few *Correspondence to: Dr Andreas Gutzeit, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Cantonal hospital Schaffhausen, Geissbergstrasse 81,8202 Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Tel: þ41-52-634-34-34 E-mail: [andreas.gutzeit@spitaeler-sh.ch](andreas.gutzeit@spitaeler-sh.ch) (A. Gutzeit). 2059-7029/© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of European Society for Medical Oncology. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)). countries that has not established a comprehensi

FAQs

What is the main research aim of the study?

To compare TNM (tumor-node-metastasis) status and UICC stages at diagnosis between organized-screening cantons and opportunistic-screening cantons in Switzerland.

What time period and populations were analyzed?

The study compared breast cancer cases in cantons with organized screening (Or-SC) and those without organized screening (Op-SC) between 2014 and 2020, including 19,236 patients from Or-SC and 2,282 from Op-SC.

What differences were observed for women aged 50–69?

Women aged 50–69 in the Op-SC group had significantly larger tumors (T1-3) and a lower proportion of N0, with no significant difference reported for M status.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Riley