In the Pyrénées-Orientales, 700 new cases of breast cancer were detected in 2024 (61,000 in France), “a slight increase of 0.3%“, specifies Dr Bernard Valentin, territorial manager of the Cancer Screening Center. Adding: “EBetween 50 and 74 years the risk is the highest, but if detected early, breast cancer is cured in 9 out of 10 cases.
It’s a fact. “Less than one woman aged 50 to 74, eligible for organized breast cancer screening, that is to say without apparent symptoms or particular risk factors, responds to the invitation to the free screening program organized each year in October”, notes the Dr Bernard Valentin, territorial manager of the Cancer Screening Center for the 13 departments of Occitanie. “They are invited every 2 years to have a mammogram and a clinical breast examination with an approved radiologist.”
“Last year, out of the 40,000 invitations to be detected launched only 20,000 women have taken the plunge”, he continues. Yet, “It is in this age group that the risk of developing breast cancer is highest. Even if nowadays, in particular thanks to an early diagnosis, an adapted therapeutic protocol and rapid treatment, the risk of dying is almost non-existent. Other figures support his remarks: at the national level, in 2024, 61,000 new cases of breast cancer will be detected. In the department, they amounted to 700. The increase is slight, + 0.3%, the same percentage as in France, but real. Concerning the mortality rate of 1.6%, it remains stable.
“Waiting times for a mammo appointment are much too long and a decreasing number of radiologists”
Where the shoe pinches and the Dr Valentin and Benjamin Debus, public health project manager at RCDC-OC 66, readily agree: “The waiting times for making an appointment for a mammogram are still too long. From a minimum of 2 months to 9 months! This discourages many women eligible for this screening. And this despite due to the fact that our department is rather well equipped with mammography centers: there are 10 of them spread across the entire territory.
Another obstacle to this examination: the number of radiologists specializing in this imaging is declining. “The old ones are gradually retiring and are not, or only slowly, being replaced by the new generation. Who are less and less attracted by these breast examinations (mammography possibly coupled with an ultrasound in order to diagnose a breast problem)”, further reveals the former obstetrician-gynecologist.
Concluding: “I remind you that breast cancer is the leading female cancer. That one in 8 women will be affected during their lifetime, but that a woman suffering from this type of cancer, even in a very advanced form, can help us days to heal.”
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