Human papillomavirus testing in primary cervical screening and the cut-off level for hybrid capture 2 tests: systematic review

Objective To determine the trade-off between the sensitivity and the specificity for high grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia at hybrid capture 2 cut-off values above the standard ≥1 relative light units/cut-off level (rlu/co)

The optimal cut-off value in fit-based colorectal cancer screening:An observational study

Abstract Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening programs using fecal immunochemical test (FIT) have to choose a cut‐off value to decide which citizens to recall for colonoscopy. The evidence on the optimal cut‐off value is sparse and based on studies with a low number of cancer cases. Methods This observational study used data from the Danish Colorectal Cancer Screening Database. Sensitivity and specificity were estimated for various cut‐off values based on a large number of cancers. Traditionally optimal cut‐off values are found by weighting sensitivity and specificity equally. As this might result in too many unnecessary colonoscopies we also provide optimal cut‐off values for different weighting of sensitivity and specificity/number of needed colonoscopies to detect one cancer. Results Weighting sensitivity and specificity equally gives an optimal cut‐off value of 45 ng Hb/ml. This, however, means making 24 colonoscopies to detect one cancer. Weighting sensitivity lower and for example, aiming at making about 16 colonoscopies to detect one cancer, gives an optimal cut‐off value of 125 ng Hb/ml. Conclusions The optimal cut‐off value in an FIT population‐based screening program is 45 ng Hb/ml, when as traditionally sensitivity and specificity are weighted equally. If, however, 24 colonoscopies needed to detect one cancer is too huge a burden on the health care system and the participants, 80, 125, 175, and 350 ng Hb/ml are optimal cut‐off values when only 19/16/14/10 colonoscopies are accepted to find one cancer

Breast cancer survivors' risk of interval cancers and false positive results in organized mammography screening

Abstract Background Breast cancer survivors are increasing followed for new breast cancers / recurrences by mammography screening only. We aimed at assessing how often breast cancer survivors get a false positive or false negative result at mammography screening. Methods All mammography screenings performed between 2007 and 2017 in the Danish national mammography screening programme were included. Screenings in women with a breast cancer diagnosis prior to invitation were included in the “breast cancer survivors” group, while remaining screenings were included in the “no previous breast cancer” group. We compared the proportion of false positive screenings and the proportion of breast cancers detected at screening among breast cancer survivors and women without previous breast cancer. The analyses were further stratified according to whether the women had a diagnostic breast imaging in the 21 months prior to the screening. Results At initial screenings, breast cancer survivors had a significant lower false positive risk than other women, while the risk was similar at subsequent screenings. Breast cancer survivors had a significant lower proportion of breast cancers detected at screening compared to other women. This was true both for women who had a diagnostic breast imaging in the 21 months prior to screening and those who did not. Conclusion This study shows that breast cancers survivors have a smaller amount of their new breast cancers detected at mammography screening, when compare to the amount of new breast cancers detected at mammography screening among women without previous breast cancer. The lower sensitivity does not seem to be due to different behavior among breast cancer survivors