• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4273-4279
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• 2012

Introduction: The aim of the study was to determine the breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening rates and the influencing factors in a group of Turkish females. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in a School of Nursing. The study sample consisted of 603 females who were the mothers/neighbors or relatives of the nursing students. Data collection forms were developed by the investigators after the relevant literature was screened and were used to collect the data. Results: Of the women aged 30 and over, 32.8% had undergone a pap smear test at least once in their life. Of those aged 50 and over, 48.2% had undergone mammography at least once and FOBT had been performed in 12% of these women in their life. Having heard of the screening tests before, knowing why they are done, and having information on the national cancer screening program were important factors influencing the rates of women having these tests done. Discussion: The results of this study show that the rates of women participating in national cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer screening programs are not at the desired levels. Having heard of the screening tests before, knowing why they are done, and having information on the national cancer screening program were important factors influencing the rates of women having these tests done. It is suggested that written and visual campaigns to promote the service should be used to educate a larger population, thus increasing the participation rates for cancer screening programs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.2267-2272
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• 2014

Background: Cancer is one of the most common causes of death in Turkey. Nurses are essential providers of preventive care for patients, especially breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening as part of routine preventive practice. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge of these cancers among nurses in Karabuk State Hospital. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was performed from April 1 to July 30, 2013. The study sample consisted of 226 nurses working in Karabuk State Hospital. Results: Mean age of the nurses was $32.07{\pm}8.39$. 62.4% of nurses practiced breast self examination when they remembered it, while 39.8% of them did not take a Pap smear test since they did not think it was necessary. 64.2% of nurses would like to receive information about cancer and screening tests. Majority of them had given true answers to questions on breast, cervical and colorectal cancer. There were significant relationships between cancer knowledge scores and marital status, working experience, and level of education. Conclusions: Nurses possess adequate knowledge about breast cancer but they need more information on cancer risk estimation. Awareness may be raised in nurses by establishing continuing education programs regarding the risk factors, symptoms, protection methods, early diagnosis, and scanning of breast, cervix and colon cancers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8499-8502
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• 2014

The incidence rate of breast cancer in developed countries is almost three-fold higher than in developing countries. Iran has had one of the lowest incidence rates for breast cancer in the world, but during the recent decades a marked increase has been seen. The purpose of this study was to investigate some established risk factors of breast cancer in Iranian women. A study of 11,850 women participating in abreast screening program was conducted. The 197 women diagnosed with breast cancer and 11,653 healthy women were compared. Logistic regression was performed to investigate associations of reproductive and anthropometric factors with breast cancer risk. Family history of breast cancer (OR=1.94, 95%CI=1.35-2.78), occupation (OR= 1.65,95%CI=1.20-2.25), education level (OR=0.50,95%CI=0.28-0.91), parity (OR=0.27, 95%CI=0.12-0.59), menopausal status (OR=3.15, 95%CI=2.35-4.21), age at menarche (OR=0.33, 95%CI=0.15-0.70), and age at the first pregnancy (OR=4.10, 95%CI=1.13-14.77) were related to the risk of breast cancer. Decrease in parity may to some extent explain the rising trend of incidence of breast cancer incidence in Iranian women.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.4137-4141
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• 2016

Background: A recent guideline by the American Cancer Society recommended that mammography (MMG) should be done for women starting in their mid-40s. In Thailand, information on opportunistic mammography screening is limited and data on the total incidence of breast cancer are also lacking. The purpose of this study was to estimate the breast cancer detection, incident and prevalence rates among Thai women. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the opportunistic mammography screening of normal women between 30 and 80 years who underwent the procedure between 2001 and 2010. All cases were followed until 2012. The detection rate was calculated for the whole period of observation using 'number of women with positive findings' divided by 'total number of women screened'. The incidence rate was calculated only at the first MMG while the subsequence rate was calculated based on all new cases detected at each subsequent MMG. Results: Among the 47,430 women, there were 152,091 MMGs or approximately 3.2 occasions per person (range, 1-10). The average duration of the interval between each subsequence visit was 1.8 years. Overall, breast cancer was detected in 543 women, with a detection rate of 10.3 per 1,000 persons. The prevalence rate of breast cancer at the first visit was 5.78 per 1,000 persons. The incidence or new cases detected at any follow-up visit was 10.4 per 1,000 persons. The overall interval cancer was 0.91 per 1,000 women, mainly detected before their second and third MMG, with a rate of 0.0.47 and 0.76 per 1,000 women. Conclusions: Opportunistic mammography screening in Thailand detected 10 case of breast cancer from each 1,000 women. This paper indicated a high rate of cancer detection during a two year interval, hence, a screening mammogram should be performed more often.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.159-167
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• 2021

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the survival rates of Korean females aged 40 to 49 years with breast cancer detected by supplemental screening ultrasound (US) or screening mammography alone. Materials and Methods: This single-institution retrospective study included 240 patients with breast cancer (mean age, 45.1 ± 2.8 years) detected by US or mammography who had undergone breast surgery between 2003 and 2008. Medical records were reviewed for clinicopathologic characteristics and detection methods. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were compared between patients with breast cancer in the US and mammography groups using the log-rank test. Multivariable cox regression analysis was used to identify independent variables associated with DFS and OS. Results: Among the 240 cases of breast cancer, 43 were detected by supplemental screening US and 197 by screening mammography (mean follow-up: 7.4 years, 93.3% with dense breasts). There were 19 recurrences and 16 deaths, all occurring in the mammography group. While the US group did not differ from the mammography group in tumor stage, the patients in this group were more likely to undergo breast-conserving surgery and radiation therapy than the mammography group. The US group also showed better DFS (p = 0.016); however, OS did not differ between the two groups (p = 0.058). In the multivariable analysis, the US group showed a lower risk of recurrence (hazard ratio, 0.097; 95% confidence interval, 0.001-0.705) compared to the mammography group. Conclusion: Our study found that Korean females aged 40-49 years with US-detected breast cancer showed better DFS than those with mammography-detected breast cancer. However, there were no statistically significant differences in OS.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.4
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• pp.886-898
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• 2020

Purpose The purpose of our study was to evaluate digital breast tomosynthesis as a breast cancer screening modality for women with gynecologic cancer. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included patients with underlying gynecologic malignancies who underwent screening digital breast tomosynthesis for breast cancer. The cancer detection rate, recall rate, sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) were calculated. PPV1 was defined as the percentage of all positive screening exams that have a tissue diagnosis of cancer within a year. PPV2 was defined as the percentage of all diagnostic exams (and Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System category 4, 5 from screening setting) with a recommendation for tissue diagnosis that have cancer within a year. PPV3 was defined as the percentage of all known biopsies actually performed that resulted in a tissue diagnosis of cancer within the year. For each case of screen-detected cancer, we analyzed the age, type of underlying gynecologic malignancy, breast density, imaging features, final Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System assessment, histologic type, T and N stages, molecular subtype, and Ki-67 index. Results Among 508 patients, 7 with breast cancer were identified after a positive result. The cancer detection rate was 13.8 per 1000 screening exams, and the recall rate was 17.9%. The sensitivity was 100%, and the specificity was 83.2%. The false negative rate was 0 per 1000 exams. The PPV1, PPV2, and PPV3 were 7.7, 31.8, and 31.8, respectively. Conclusion Digital breast tomosynthesis may be a promising breast cancer screening modality for women with gynecologic cancer, based on the high cancer detection rate, high sensitivity, high PPV, and high detection rate of early-stage cancer observed in our study.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.117-120
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• 2013

Background: Breast cancer is an increasing health problem in India. Screening for early detection should lead to a reduction in mortality from the disease. It is known that motivation by nurses influences uptake of screening methods by women. This study aimed to investigate knowledge of breast cancer risk factors & early detection methods and the practice of screening among nurses in Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire to assess the knowledge of breast cancer risk factors, early detection methods and practice of screening methods among 457 nurses working in a Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla-H.P. Chi square test, Data was analysed using SPSS version 16. Test of significance used was chi square test. Results: The response rate of the study was 94.9%. The average knowledge of risk factors about breast cancer of the entire population is 49%. 10.5% of nurses had poor knowledge, 25.2% of the nurses had good knowledge, 45% had very good knowledge and 16.3% of the nurses had excellent knowledge about risk factors of breast cancer and early detection methods. The knowledge level was significantly higher among BSC nurses than nurses with Diploma. 54% of participants in this study reportedly practice BSE at least once every year. Less than one-third reported that they had CBE within the past one year. 7% ever had mammogram before this study. Conclusions: Results from this study suggest the frequent continuing medical education programmes on breast cancer at institutional level is desirable.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4427-4430
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• 2012

Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among women in Malaysia. Despite the campaigns undertaken to raise the awareness of the public regarding breast cancer, breast cancer screening rates are still low in the country. The community pharmacist, as one of the most accessible healthcare practitioners, could play a role in the provision of breast cancer health promotion services to the community. However, there are no documented data regarding the community pharmacists' involvement in breast cancer related health promotion activities. Hence, this study was conducted to examine self-reported knowledge, practice and perception of community pharmacists on provision of breast cancer health promotion services and to investigate the barriers that limit their involvement. This cross-sectional survey conducted between May to September 2010, included a sample of 35 community pharmacists working in the districts of Hulu Langat and Sepang in state of Selangor. A 22-item validated questionnaire that included both closed and Lickert scale questions was used to interview those pharmacists who gave their informed consent to participate in the study. The data was analysed using SPSS. Only 11.3% of the community pharmacists answered all the questions on the knowledge section correctly. The mean overall knowledge of the community pharmacists on risk factors of breast cancer and screening recommendations is 56%. None of the respondents was currently involved in breast cancer health promotion activities. Lack of time (80%), lack of breast cancer educational materials (77.1%) and lack of training (62.9%) were the top three mentioned barriers. Despite these barriers, 94.3% (33) of the community pharmacists agreed that they should be involved in breast cancer health promotion activities. Hence, there is need to equip community pharmacists with necessary training and knowledge to enable them to contribute their share towards prevention and screening of breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4307-4312
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• 2013

Breast cancer is the most frequent malignancy of women worldwide. It is the leading cause of female cancer related disability and mortality. In Saudi Arabia breast cancer ranks first among cancerous diseases in females. In the Gulf region, and especially in Saudi Arabia, few studies have been conducted to address breast cancer awareness. The purpose of the current study was therefore to investigate the level of breast cancer awareness among Saudi females in Jeddah, focusing on knowledge of breast cancer warning signs, risk factors, screening programs and breast self-examination (BSE). The design of this study was an exploratory correlational analysis. The sample comprised 200 Saudi females aged 20 and older living in Jeddah. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews. Breast cancer awareness was measured using a modified Arabic version of the Breast Cancer Awareness Measure (Breast CAM) version 2. Descriptive statistical analysis, Pearson's Product Moment correlation coefficients and ANOVA test were used to answer study questions. Out of 200 participants, 50.5% were aware of breast lump as a warning sign of breast cancer, 57.5% claimed that family history was risk factor, 20.5% had undergone breast screening, 79% heard about BSE, and 47.5% knew how to perform BSE. Findings indicated that Saudi females level of awareness of breast cancer is very inadequate. Public awareness interventions are needed in order to overcome an ever-increasing burden of this disease among Saudi females.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.574-580
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• 2022