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Breast Cancer Research

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Breast cancer has definitely become a serious worldwide health challenge. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), public health data points shows that the global burden of breast cancer in women, measured by the number of times something happens, death, and financial based costs, is large and on the rise. Worldwide, it is estimated that more than one million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year, and more than 410,000 will die from the disease (GIVE SOURCE). In low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), the setup and funds for common examination of medical breast examinations (such as mammography) are often not available. In these settings, breast cancer is therefore diagnosed at late stages and women may receive poor …show more content…

For articles I started on Medline (www.pubmed.com), Google Scholar and Google search using keywords like (Breast Cancer) BC, prevention, control, screening, early detection, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), developing countries, mammography, clinical breast examination (CBE), and self breast examination (BSE). In addition to this search, I looked up “What are the options for early detection and/or screening for BC in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)?” to find out the opinion of different experts in the field, from both HICs and LMICs. Now that that’s covered, I wanted to give a further explanation of what exactly breast cancer was as well as its most recommended screening examination, mammography. Breast Cancer is a deadly disease characterized by abnormal cells that grow and invade healthy cells in the body. Breast cancer starts in the cells of breast as a group of cancer cells that can then invade surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to other areas of the body (American Cancer Society). Another term that is constantly brought up is mammography, which is the use of an x-ray exam of the breast that is used to detect and evaluate breast changes (American Cancer …show more content…

Therefore, a number of studies have depicted the need for BC screening/early detection in LMICs to prevent early deaths of women presenting with late stage at diagnosis. Yet, many complex issues harvest in the context of planning and implementation of BC screening in LMICs. So far, mammography has remained the main examination of BC screening throughout the world. Adequate evidence exists from some randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that mammography screening is associated with significant reductions in BC mortality. But in order to be effective, mammographic screening programs must be of high quality, with appropriate targeting and of sufficient frequency. In LMICs, BC incidence is lower and occurs more in younger age groups when breast tissue is dense. Promoting a need for another, more appropriate screening examination to take place. Also, there is a lack of resources for implementing any population level screening programs using mammography. Running a mammographic screening program becomes impossible and pointless in LMICs since the costs are too high and the benefits are insignificant. Maximum cost-benefit can only take place if screening is done in an age group which has a sufficiently high incidence of BC and sufficient

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