Breast cancer screening starts on 2 January

From January starts breast cancer screening

29/12/2013

In Austria, the free early breast cancer screening program will start on 2 January. This is to protect more women from cancer death. In Germany, early detection of cancer is also enshrined in law.

1.5 million women receive invitations
Plans have been running since 2009; for a long time, health insurances and doctors were unable to agree on tariffs, but now the time has come: on 2 January 2014, the Austrian breast cancer screening program will start. In total, 1.5 million women aged between 45 and 69 will automatically receive a written invitation to mammography every two years.

Voluntary free investigation
About 63,000 invitations are to be sent per month. It will start next Thursday with women at the age of 69 years. Women between the ages of 40 and 44 as well as 70 and 74 years could also request an invitation. As a rule, the voluntary investigation is free of charge. There is also no need for a separate medical referral to any of the country's 191 radiology stations, an invitation is sufficient.

Discover diseases in the curable stage
Every year, about 5,000 women develop breast cancer in Austria, about 1,600 die each year. The aim of early detection is to uncover the diseases in the curable and non-metastatic stages, thus increasing the survival rate and the proportion of possible breast-conserving operations. Of the eligible Austrians, no more than 40 percent had participated in these screening tests so far. The invitations should increase the rate to 70 percent in the longer term.

Specially trained radiologists
Michael Fuchsjäger, Head of the Department of General Radiological Diagnostics at MedUni Graz, explained: „The good thing is that we now have consistent standards.“ All 570 participating radiologists were given special training and, in addition, each mammogram photograph was assessed independently by two radiologists. The data would be evaluated for each participant and beyond. This is done anonymously. Fuchsjäger also qualified the concerns of many women about the radiation dose in mammography. It corresponds „just“ the dose of two intercontinental flights.

Situation in Germany
Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in women. Every year around 55,000 women in Germany contract breast cancer. Statistically, every tenth woman is affected. The chance of getting the chest in the early diagnosis increases to 60 percent. A weighty argument, therefore, to go to mammography on time and on a regular basis. In Germany, early detection of cancer is enshrined in law. The offers contained therein are financed by the health insurance companies. For example, women over the age of 30 are offered a scan of their breasts and armpits, as well as instructions for breast self-examination. And women aged 50 to 69 receive an invitation to mammography every two years. (Ad)