The MISCAN-Fadia continuous tumor growth model for breast cancer

The MISCAN-Fadia model was used to analyze the impact of screening and adjuvant treatment on U.S. breast cancer mortality between 1975 and 2000. MISCAN-Fadia uses the concept of "fatal diameter" to model survival and screening benefit and is based on continuous tumor growth. It consists of four major components: population, natural history, screening, and treatment. Population parameters were quantified using U.S. population data. Most natural history and screening parameters were fitted to the Swedish Two County screening trial data; some were based on Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data. Adjuvant treatment parameters were quantified using data from the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group's meta-analysis. The simulated trend in incidence matches the observed trend reasonably well; the simulated mortality is equal to the observed in 1975 but becomes increasingly too high in 2000. We estimate that screening leads to a 15% and adjuvant treatment to a 21% mortality reduction in the year 2000.