THOUSANDS of Scottish women will receive extra breast cancer screening that could detect 20% more cases of the disease, saving hundreds of lives every year.
The Scottish Government will tomorrow unveil a new Cancer Care Action Plan giving all women attending routine screening two X-rays of each breast instead of one, a move that experts believe will pick up hundreds of early tumours which are too small
to detect under the current programme.
Last year more than 166,000 women attended checks run by the Scottish Breast Cancer Screening Programme, leading to the diagnosis of 1,395 cases of breast cancer in Scotland.
But "two view mammography" is expected to save a further 275 lives a year among women whose cancers are at a very early stage, an extra 20% more cases. It will be rolled out across Scotland by 2010.
The method, introduced in England four years ago, involves taking X-rays of the breast from two different angles, which allows much greater detail to be seen.
Scottish Conservative health spokeswoman Mary Scanlon said: "This is wonderful news for women's health in Scotland. It's a generational step change in combating cancer and I would urge all eligible women to go for screening. The earlier it is diagnosed, the less invasive any treatment is likely to be."
Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease in women, and although survival rates have risen dramatically due to better detection rates and treatment, it claimed about 1,000 lives in Scotland last year. Incidence of the disease is increasing, with the number of cases rising by 9% over the past decade.
Breast cancer screening is seen as a vital tool in picking up cases of the disease before symptoms, such as a lump on the breast, are even noticed and women across the country aged 50-70, the highest risk age group, are invited for screening every three years.
Although two X-rays are currently taken at the first screening appointment, the vast majority of women will only have one view taken when they attend their three-yearly follow ups.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon is expected to unveil the £13.4m move tomorrow as part of a new cancer strategy to ensure that patients in Scotland have access to the most up-to-date treatments and technology. Last night the development was welcomed by cancer experts.
Dr Emma Pennery, clinical director of Breast Cancer Care, said: "This method is becoming standard across the world. The main reason for doing it is that by looking at the breast with two views you are expanding the visibility of the tissue and you can see it more clearly. If you take two views rather than one, it increases your ability to detect smaller cancers.
"The advantage of more accurate screening is finding cancer sooner, because the sooner you find them the more likely it is that treatment will be successful."
Elspeth Atkinson, Scottish director of the cancer charity Macmillan, said: "We welcome the introduction of two-view mammogram, which is key to ensuring the early detection of some breast cancers. This test can pick up small cancers earlier, is more accurate and can ultimately mean a better prognosis."
A range of other measures are also being unveiled by Sturgeon tomorrow under the cancer strategy. They include moves to increase research, involve patients and deliver treatment for the disease more promptly.
She is also expected to launch a consultation over plans for cancer patients to routinely donate tissue and tumour samples to the NHS during their treatment. The samples would be stored and examined by the NHS for the purpose of further cancer research.
'I cannot believe that some women don't go for checks'VERONICA Wood is one of the lucky few women in Scotland who have received two-view mammography checks and she believes her routine screening check saved her life.
Wood, 57, a call centre worker of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, attended a mobile screening unit in the car park of her GP surgery. The first X-ray showed no problems, but the second view revealed a teaspoon-sized tumour near her chest wall. Further tests at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, revealed the tumour was aggressive and could not be treated with hormonal therapy.
This would have made the cancer very difficult to treat if it had gone undetected and become more widespread. But as it was so small, Wood needed only a lumpectomy, rather than a mastectomy, and chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
Two years later she remains cancer-free and enjoys spending time with her five grandchildren – Michael, Marc, Madison, Antonio and Lizzie. She looks after three of her grandchildren most days and is also back at work part-time.
Wood, whose husband Martin is a taxi-driver, yesterday welcomed the move to extend two-view mammograms.
She said: "I was very, very lucky.
There was no visible lump with the first view they took because the tumour was on the chest wall. It was only detected with the side view. I was operated on within 10 days and it really wasn't too bad. My hair fell out overnight because of the chemotherapy treatment, but I knew it would grow back. I can't believe that there are women who don't go for their screening checks."
The full article contains 890 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
