Since January, Health Insurance has been informing women aged 50 to 74 by mail of the need to go to an approved establishment to undergo breast cancer screening. “I didn’t feel concerned by the disease,” admits Stéphanie Grégoire, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020.
The coordinating physician of the Regional Cancer Screening Coordination Center (CRCDC), Claude-Pierre Gautier, explains the important approach of organized screenings: “Do an organized screening (here in the context of the Health Insurance letter, Editor’s note), This allows us to go to competent establishments, with the right machines and the right doctors. Above all, the usefulness of this organized screening is the second reading of the mammogram results.”
The second decisive reading
Once the first images have been taken, the results are sent to a second radiologist to confirm or deny the first’s version. “Believing is good. Verifying is better!”says radiologist Norbert Pankert. The second reading can detect between 8 and 12% of cancers that would not have been diagnosed: “It was the second reading that saved me. When the first results came back, I was told that there was nothing. The second reader detected an anomaly. The screening allowed me to catch the disease in time and avoid the heavy treatment of chemotherapy.” explains Stéphanie Grégoire, now in remission.
Massive closure of radiology centers complicates screening
In 2002, Vaucluse had 27 imaging centers, in 2024, it only has 9. Massive closures which complicate breast cancer screening: “We have patients who call us to come and get their screening following the letter they received, but we have given them a waiting period of a year and a half to have a mammogram…”retorts Karine Chesnel of the Sainte-Catherine Institute. “We are seeing a drop in participation in screenings because there are fewer and fewer imaging centers”analyses Claude-Pierre Gautier. In Vaucluse, 45% of women carry out their organized screening.
Related News :