• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3529-3533
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• 2012

Objectives: To investigate the current prevalence and knowledge of cervical cancer, breast cancer and reproductive tract infections (RTIs) in rural Chinese women, and to explore the acceptance and feasibility of implementing a combined screening program in rural China. Methods: A population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted among women aged 30 to 59 years old in Xiangyuan County, Shanxi Province from 2009 to 2010. Socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of cervical cancer, breast cancer and RTIs, and the attitude toward single or combined screening were collected by an interview questionnaire. Each participant received a clinical examination of the cervix, breast and reproductive tract. Examinations included visual inspection, mammography, laboratory tests and pathological diagnosis. Results: A total of 1,530 women were enrolled in this study. The prevalence of cervical precancerous lesions, suspicious breast cancer, suspicious benign breast disease and RTIs was 1.4%, 0.2%, 14.0% and 54.3%, respectively. Cervicitis, trichomonas vaginitis, and bacterial vaginitis were the three most common RTIs among our participants. Television, radio broadcast, and public education during screening were the major source of healthcare knowledge in rural China. Moreover 99.7% of women expressed great interest in participating in a combined screening project. The affordable limit for combined screening project was only 50 RMB for more than half of the rural women. Conclusion: A combined screening program would be more effective and popular than single disease screening projects, while appropriate accompanied education and a co-pay model for its successful implementation need to be explored, especially in low-resource settings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.20
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• pp.8719-8724
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• 2014

Background: Breast cancer incidence is increasing among South Asian migrants to the United States (US). However, their utilization of cancer screening services is poor. This study characterizes attitudes of South Asians towards breast health and screening in a community sample. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) was conducted among South Asians (n=124) in New Jersey and Chicago. The following beliefs and attitudes towards breast cancer screening were assessed-health motivation, breast self-examination confidence, breast cancer susceptibility and fear, and mammogram benefits and barriers. Descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlation coefficients were computed for HBM subscales. Findings: Mean age of participants was 36 years with an average 10 years stay in the US. Most women strived to care for their health ($3.82{\pm}1.18$) and perceived high benefits of screening mammography ($3.94{\pm}0.95$). However, they perceived lower susceptibility to breast cancer in the future ($2.30{\pm}0.94$). Conclusions: Increasing awareness of breast cancer risk for South Asian women may have a beneficial effect on cancer incidence because of their positive attitudes towards health and breast cancer screening. This is especially relevant because South Asians now constitute one of the largest minority populations in the US and their incidence of breast cancer is steadily increasing.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5681-5685
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• 2013

Background: To compare breast cancer incidence and mortality trends in Central Serbia between males and females in the period 1999-2009. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, mortality data were obtained from the National Statistics Institute and morbidity data were derived from Institute of Public Health of Serbia for the period of interest. Results: Breast cancer is a leading cancer in the female population of Central Serbia, whereas in male population it is not on the list of 10 leading localizations, concerning both incidence as well as mortality. In the period 1999-2009 the average standardized incidence rates of breast cancer were 60.5/100,000 in women and 1.4/100,000 in men, while average standardized mortality rates were 20.4/100,000 and 0.4/100,000. The average standardized incidence and mortality rates were about 45 times higher in females than males. Male breast cancer comprises approximately 2.1% of all breast cancer cases. The average age-specific mortality and incidence rates increased with age in both sexes. In the observed period standardized mortality rates of breast cancer increased significantly only in men ($y=0.320+0.0215{\times}$, p=0.044). Conclusions: The increase of breast cancer incidence in both sexes and mortality in men, indicate an urgent need for Serbian health professionals to apply existing cancer control and preventive measures. Male breast cancer is more present than in other world regions, with an outstanding increase of mortality, which demands a timely identification (screening) and adequate treatment. A national policy including mammography should be considered in the light of the newest findings.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5817-5823
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• 2013

Background: It is important to understand the perceptions of oncologists to understand the comprehensive picture of clinical presentation of breast cancer. In the absence of clear evidence, clinical practice involving patients of breast cancer in India should provide insights into stages of breast cancer with which women present to their clinics and mode of screening of breast cancer prevalent in Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A qualitative study was conducted to understand the perceptions of oncologists regarding clinical presentation of breast cancer, stages at which women present to clinics, and mode of screening of breast cancer prevalent in Andhra Pradesh. In-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted with ten practising oncologists from various public and private cancer hospitals in Hyderabad city to understand their perspectives on breast cancer and screening. The data were triangulated to draw inferences suitable for the current public Health scenario. Results: Late presentation was indicated as the most important cause of decreased survival among women. Most women present at Stage 3 and 4 when there is no opportunity for surgical intervention. The results indicate that there is a huge gap in awareness about breast cancer, especially in rural areas and among poor socioeconomic groups. Even despite knowledge, most women delay in reporting due to reasons like fear, embarrassment, cost, ignorance, negligence, and easy going attitude. Conclusions: It is important to improve awareness about breast cancer and screening methods for promoting early screening. The study inferred that it would be beneficial to establish cancer registries in rural areas. Also, the policymakers need to make key decisions which among three methods (breast self examination (BSE), clinical breast examination and mammography) can best be used as a screening tool and how to successfully implement population wide screening program to prevent mortality and morbidity from breast cancer in India.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.143-147
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• 2016

Breast and cervical cancers are among leading causes of morbidity and mortality in women worldwide. Regular screening is very important for early detection of these cancers, but studies indicate low rates of screening participation. In this survey we studied the rate of screening participation among women 18-64 years old referred to urban health centers in Kerman, Iran in 2015. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 240 women who were selected using a multistage sampling method. Data collected using a questionnaire covered demographics and questions about common cancer screening status in women. Analysis was by SPSS 19. The mean age of participants was $31.7{\pm}7$. Most (97.1%) were married, housewives (83.3%), had high school diploma (43.8%) and a monthly income more than ten million Rls. The frequency of the Pap test performance was higher in women who were employed and with a university degree (p<0.05). The frequency of mammography performance in women over 40 years was also higher in women with university degree (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of pelvic examination, and self and clinical breast examinations based on education, household income and employment (p>0.05). Our study found that the rate of screening participation among women is low. Investigation of the barriers, increasing the awareness of women about the importance and advantages of screening and also more incentives for health personnel especially family physicians to pay more attention to preventive programs could be effective.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.5153-5157
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• 2016

Objective: The benefits of screening and early detection of breast cancer, including reduced morbidity and mortality, have been well-reported in the literature. In 2011, a breast cancer screening program was launched in Meknes-Tafilalt region of Morocco. The aim of this study was to evaluate the early performance indicators of this program. Materials and Methods: This retrospective evaluative study was conducted between April 2012 and December 2014, in Meknes-Tafilalt region of Morocco. Several performance indicators of the breast cancer screening program were calculated: the compliance rate, the positivity rate, the referral rate, the cancer detection rate and the organizational indicators. Results: During 2012-2014, a total of 184,951 women participated in the breast cancer screening program. The compliance rate was 26%, the positive rate was 3.3%, the referral rate was 36.7%, and the cancer detection rate was 1.2 per 1,000 women. The median time between the date of clinical breast examination and the date of biopsy (or cyto-puncture) was 36 days. The median time between the date of positive mammography and the date of biopsy (or cyto-puncture) was 6 days. The median time between the date of clinical breast examination and the date of the first received treatment was 61 days. Conclusions: The program needs better monitoring, as well as implementation of quality assurance tools to improve performance in our country.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2419-2423
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• 2012

Context: Genuine community participation does not denote taking part in an action planned by health care professionals in a medical or top-down approach. Further, community participation and health education on breast cancer prevention are not similar to other activities incorporated in primary health care services in Iran. Objective: To propose a model that provides a methodological tool to increase women's participation in the decision making process towards breast cancer prevention. To address this, an evaluation framework was developed that includes a typology of community participation approaches (models) in health, as well as five levels of participation in health programs proposed by Rifkin (1985&1991). Method: This model explains the community participation approaches in breast cancer prevention in Iran. In a 'medical approach', participation occurs in the form of women's adherence to mammography recommendations. As a 'health services approach', women get the benefits of a health project or participate in the available program activities related to breast cancer prevention. The model provides the five levels of participation in health programs along with the 'health services approach' and explains how to implement those levels for women's participation in available breast cancer prevention programs at the local level. Conclusion: It is hoped that a focus on the 'medical approach' (top-down) and the 'health services approach' (top-down) will bring sustainable changes in breast cancer prevention and will consequently produce the 'community development approach' (bottom-up). This could be achieved using a comprehensive approach to breast cancer prevention by combining the individual and community strategies in designing an intervention program for breast cancer prevention.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3269-3274
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• 2013

Background: The aim was to determine the lifestyle behaviors and the practices for early diagnosis of cancer of cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design was used for this study. The sample consisted of 222 patients with a diagnosis of cancer (non-random sample method). Ethical permission was obtained of the Non-interventional Research Ethics Committee of our Institution. Values of p<0.05 were accepted as statistically significant. Results: It was observed that 54.4% of the patients had never performed breast self-examination, 60.8% had never had a mammography, and 71.2% had never had a Pap smear. Sixty-six point two percent of patients had never had screening for colon cancer within the past ten years. GIS cancers were higher in smokers and ex-smokers (p=0.005), in drinkers and in ex-drinkers (p=0.000). The breast cancer rate was higher in obese people (p=0.019). Conclusions: The results of this study provide information on the healthy lifestyle behavior of cancer patients before their diagnosis, and their use of early diagnosis practices. The important aspect of this study is to extend cancer patients' period of life after the diagnosis and treatment process, to make them conscious of risky lifestyle and nutritional behavior so that they can maintain a high quality of life, and to start initiatives in this direction that would ensure changes in behavior.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.558-565
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• 2013

Mammography, the process of using X-ray to examine the woman breast, is the one of the effective tools for detecting breast cancer at an early state. In screening mammogram, Computer-Aided Detection(CAD) system helps radiologist to diagnose cases by detecting malignant masses. A mass is an important lesion in the breast that can indicate a cancer. Due to various shapes and unclear boundaries of the masses, detecting breast masses is considered a challenging task. To this end, CAD system detects a lot of regions of interest including normal tissues. Thus it is important to develop the well-organized classifier. In this paper, we propose an enhanced sparse representation (SR) based classifier using Fisher discrimination dictionary learning. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the existing support vector machine (SVM) classifier.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.24
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• pp.10665-10673
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• 2015

Background: We wished to analyse patterns of use of needle biopsy procedures by BreastScreen Australia (BSA) accredited programs to identify areas for improvement. Design: BSA services provided anonymous data regarding percutaneous needle biopsy of screen detected lesions assessed between 2005-2009. Results: 12 services, from 5 of 7 Australian states and territories provided data for 18212 lesions biopsied. Preoperative diagnosis rates were 96.84% for lesion other than microcalcification (LOTM) and 93.21% for microcalcifications. At surgery 97.9% impalpable lesions were removed at the first procedure. Of 11548 Microcalcification (LOTM) biopsied, 46.9% were malignant. The final diagnosis was reached by conventional core biopsy (CCB) in 72.46%, FNAB in 21.33%, VACB in 1.69% and open biopsy in 4.52% of lesions. FNA is being limited to LOTM with benign imaging After FNAB, core biopsy was required for 38% of LOTM. In LOTM the mean false positive rate (FPR) was 0.36% for FNAB, 0.06% for NCB and 0% for VACB. Diagnostic accuracy was 72.75% for FNAB and 92.1% for core biopsies combined. Of 6441 microcalcifications biopsied 2305 (35.8%) were malignant. Microcalcifications are being assessed primarily by NCB but 6.57% underwent FNAB, 45.6% of which required NCB. False positive diagnoses were rare. FNR was 5% for NCB and 1.53% for VACB. Diagnostic accuracy was 73.52% for FNAB, 86.29% for NCB and 88.63% for VACB. Only 8 of 12 services had access to VACB facilities. Conclusions: BSA services are selecting lesions effectively for biopsy and are achieving high preoperative diagnosis rates. Gaps in the present accreditation standards require further consideration.