TS, AP join hands to fight breast cancer

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana may become the first States in the country to screen patients for breast cancer.

Courtesy Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation, the two States are working to circumvent the expensive mammogram to offer screening to the underserved through public healthcare. The tool -- Clinical Breast Examination, which according to the foundation’s Dr. P. Raghuram, has shown results comparable to mammography-based screening programmes in the UK.

“If cancer was diagnosed when a tumour is small, it can be treated effectively with excellent outcomes and high 10-year survival,” he said, adding, “Our pilot exercise through CBE has helped detect one cancer for every thousand women screened.” The pilot’s findings assume significance given that only 11.1 percent women in urban parts of the State and 8.1 per cent in rural Telangana have had CBE, according to the latest National Family Health Survey from the Ministry of Health.

The two States are planning to procure expensive mammogram to offer screening to the needy