WILL EARLY DETECTION OF BREAST-CANCER REDUCE THE COSTS OF TREATMENT

A substantial investment in resources is required to provide a populat ion-based mammography screening program. At the same time, screening m ay also reduce the costs of treating breast cancer. Empirical evidence to support such cost savings, however, is limited. This paper present s a simulation of the impact on treatment costs of a population-based mammography screening program in New South Wales. A 1991 cohort of wom en aged 45 to 69 years is followed for the period 1991 to 2023. With t wo yearly screening, the present value of the total health service cos ts for this cohort would be approximately $112 million. Primary treatm ent, at $60 million, would cost $5 million more with screening than wi thout. Treatment for advanced stages of the disease would cost $22 mil lion less. Overall, this analysis suggests that savings in treatment c osts are relatively small in relation to the overall resource requirem ents of organised screening.