October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an annual campaign that helps to increase attention and support for the awareness, early detection and treatment of breast cancer. As a company developing and manufacturing advanced mammography imaging equipment, Planmed is strongly dedicated to battling breast cancer – every month of the year.
Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer in women and the second most common cancer overall. According to World Cancer Research Fund, there were over 2 million new cases worldwide in 2018. Cancer is a social illness in the sense that it affects the entire family as well as friends – therefore the total number of people influenced by breast cancer is much larger.
Planmed wishes to thank all its partners for joining us in the fight against breast cancer. We are committed to improving the early detection of the disease through our leading technologies. Our solutions offer higher resolution imaging for radiologists while ensuring superior patient comfort and enhanced workflows for technicians. Furthermore, Planmed is dedicated to offering solutions such as mobile mammography clinics to countries and locations where access to care would otherwise be limited or non-existent.
Breast cancer screening aims at finding breast cancer early on
October serves as a reminder for women to be screened in the hope that by doing so, early detection will lead to more positive outcomes in the fight against breast cancer. Being based in Finland, we at Planmed are in the fortunate situation of being under a national breast cancer screening program. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland is responsible for the program which requires municipal health centers to arrange free biennial breast cancer screening for all women at the age of 50–69. This means that each woman is invited by a personal letter to participate in a mammography exam every two years.
Today, the prognosis for breast cancer is reasonably good, as it has an 89% five-year survival rate. The aim of breast cancer screening is to detect cancer earlier than without screening. In Finland, women diligently participate in breast cancer screening – nearly 90 percent of the age group follows the invitation sent every two years.
The main benefit of screening for breast cancer is the decrease in the mortality rate. According to studies, mortality among women who are over 50 years and who are invited to screening is about 22% lower than in situations without breast cancer screening. Screening often also helps to detect breast cancer early on when it is easier to treat. Moreover, breast cancer that is found at an early stage can usually be treated by using breast conserving therapy.
Read more about the breast cancer screening program in Finland here.
Text: Hanna Lipiäinen & Satu Seppälä