1Symbiosis International University, Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences, Pune, India
2Orchids Breast Health Clinic, Prashanti Cancer Care Mission, Pune, India
Online published on 29 December, 2017.
Detecting Breast Cancer (BC) early is critical for providing effective treatment, thereby, reducing the disease burden and mortality. Common methods used for BC screening are Clinical Breast Examination (CBE) and Screening Mammography (SM). CBE is affordable, but gives inconsistent results, while the expensive SM has better chances of detecting cancer at the early stage.
To compare the performances of CBE and SM in an ongoing BC screening programme in Pune city
We have created a Mobile Cancer Screening Unit which operates in Pune city with a team of trained health personnel who reach out to women in the community and impart awareness on BC. After obtaining consent and relevant clinical history, CBE and SM are performed on all eligible women aged between 40 to 70 years. While CBE findings are recorded on the spot, the SM images are made available to the radiologists at the center for reporting. All abnormalities detected are recalled to the center for further diagnostic follow-up. Retrospective data was collected for the period of June to November 2016 for this study.
Among 852 total women who were screened for BC, 300 women were screened positive. Among which 117(13.73%) were CBE positive, 106(12.44%) were SM positive and 77(9.03%) were positive on both tests.
Breast cancer, CBE, early detection, mammography, screening
