Faecal occult blood screening and reduction of colorectal cancer mortality: a case-control study.

To estimate the efficacy of screening on colorectal cancer mortality, a population-based case-control study was conducted in well-defined areas of Burgundy (France). Screening by faecal occult blood test prior to diagnosis in cases born between 1914 and 1943 and who died of colorectal cancer diagnosed in 1988-94 was compared with screening in controls matched with the case for age, sex and place of residence. Cases were less likely to have been screened than controls, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.

[Health care pattern of the initial course of treatment of breast cancer in the French Department of Côte-d'Or from 1982 to 1992].

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe the implication of the different health care structures in the treatment of breast cancer.

Methods: In Côte-d'Or, from 1982 to 1992, there were 2432 cases of breast cancer. Surgery came first as treatment for 93% of the patients, radiotherapy came second (77%).

[Estimation of the treatment cost of cervical cancer].

Background: The goal of this study was to estimate direct costs induced by the first year of treatment of cervix cancers according to the stage at diagnosis.

Methods: Fifteen patients of the Gynaecology Department of the Besançon hospital (Doubs, France) were involved in a prospective study to estimate the real cost of treatment of carcinomas in situ (CIS) by conization and of microinvasive carcinomas (MIC) by simple hysterectomy. Costs of invasive cancers were obtained from a retrospective analysis of 24 hospital records in the Radiotherapy Department.

Colon cancer in the elderly: evidence for major improvements in health care and survival.

Time trends in therapeutic approaches and in the prognosis of colon cancer for patients aged 75 years and above have been investigated in comparison with corresponding trends for younger patients using a population-based series of 2089 colon cancer patients diagnosed between 1976 and 1990 in the Côte-d'Or area (478,000 inhabitants), Burgundy, France. Significant progress has been achieved in the management of patients with colon cancer in both age groups, but trends have been more noticeable in patients aged 75 years and above. In the elderly, the proportion of cancers limited to the digestive tract wall showed a 3-year average increase of 2.