ANTICIPATING THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PRIMARY THERAPY OF BREAST-CANCER AFTER INTRODUCING SCREENING - A MORE GLOBAL PICTURE FOR HEALTH-CARE POLICY-MAKING

A breast cancer screening program mainly aims at reducing mortality. H owever, it also has an effect, often not assessed, on the utilization of health care resources that is relevant to health care policy making . Using a simulation model, this paper forecasts the impact of introdu cing a breast cancer screening program on the utilization of resources for the primary therapy of breast cancer. The most important conseque nces from a health care point of view will be an increased use of brea st-conserving therapy and an increased need for postoperative radiothe rapy; there will also be a higher number of women diagnosed with nonin vasive breast cancer. The results of this study could provide support for health care decision making by showing the consequences of policy decisions on the introduction of screening programs for health care ut ilization.