Breast cancer Little knowledge in early detection

Many women are not adequately informed about breast cancer screening

02/13/2014

Although about one in eight women suffer from breast cancer in the course of their lives, around one in two is wrongly or insufficiently informed when it comes to early detection or mammography screening. The benefit of the investigation is generally overestimated.

Most common cancer in women
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer among women in Germany and is now quite treatable. The sooner a tumor is discovered in the breast, the greater the chance of recovery. But according to a survey, there are frightening knowledge gaps in breast cancer prevention in Germany. Every second woman is therefore informed incorrectly or insufficiently about early detection or mammography screening.

Benefit of the investigation is overestimated
According to the health monitor published by Barmer GEK and the Bertelsmann Stiftung on Thursday, 30 percent of women believed that even participating in mammography screening prevented them from developing breast cancer. A total of 1,852 women between the ages of 44 and 63 were interviewed. On the one hand, the benefit of the study is overestimated, while on the other hand little is known about risks such as false positives.

About 80 percent of women can be treated
According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), more than 70,000 women in Germany are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. About 17,000 women die every year. For this year, the RKI expect more than 75,000 new cases. About 80 percent of ill women today can be treated successfully, according to the German Society for Senology (DGS). Breast cancer is no longer synonymous with a death sentence. It depends a lot on an early diagnosis. Doctors could resort to different treatment options that can often be used to maintain the breast. Hereditary women also have alternatives to breast amputation.

Fear of wrong decisions
Nationwide there were more than 100,000 breast removals in 2011. According to the latest health monitor, a majority of women are afraid of making wrong decisions when it comes to cancer. Knowledge about the benefits and risks of mammography screening has not improved in recent years. One of the authors of the health monitor, the Bremen professor Norbert Schmacke, considers the extent of the information deficits to be worrying: „There is a lack of understandable and evidence-based information, as well as the time and opportunity to form your own opinion, especially when inviting you to screen“, so the university professor.

Cancer despite precaution
Prof. Marie-Luise Dierks, Head of the Patient University at the Hannover Medical School, also emphasizes this: „We have an obligation to explain in a balanced and understandable way the benefits, but also the risks of screening, and to enable women to make a good decision.“ The cancer information service of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg also knows that the knowledge about the screening is more than incomplete. Even if many callers were informed in advance, according to Birgit Hiller, the Cancer Information Service would always hear the phrase: „Since I have always taken precautions and still get cancer.“ (Sb)