“A mammograph is good, but you need people to read the x-rays”: the president of the League Against Cancer 17 sounds the alarm

Pink October, which is celebrating its 31st edition, has gradually become an event that is as unmissable as it is familiar. Despite everything, breast cancer screening remains too uncommon, even though it represents the leading cause of cancer death in women: in 2023, the breast cancer screening campaign for women between 50 and 74 years old had met with mixed success. 48.2% of those concerned had participated, compared to 44.2% in 2022.

In Charente-Maritime, these figures are even lower. Jean-Marie Piot, director of the department of Biotechnologies at the University of La Rochelle and president of the League against cancer in the department, mentions a screening rate “significantly below 50%” in La Rochelle and “37-38%“in Saint-Jean-d’Angély during the 2023 screening campaign. A finding confirmed by the Regional Health Agency, which underlines ” under-participation in screening in the east of Charente-Maritime and in large cities in the west such as La Rochelle and Rochefort“. And Jean-Marie Piot evokes a “barrier“in Charente-Maritime: “access to mammography“.

Equipment, but without qualified personnel?

To try to remedy this, the Saint-Jean-d’Angély hospital has acquired a new mammograph, which will be inaugurated this Tuesday, October 15. The League against Cancer participated financially, “between 20,000 and 30,000 euros” indicates Jean-Marie Piot, who calls for “a boost on this equipment“But for all that, the president of the League does not seem to believe that a simple purchase of equipment will be enough.

A mammograph is good, but you also need people to read the x-rays.

For Jean-Marie Piot, the main reason” delays in access to mammography, this is the “lack of radiologists in our department“. He thus evokes a reduction in qualified medical personnel, which results in “an overload of work” for the remaining radiologists and delays of up to one year. “This problem will have to be resolved“, insists the president of the League: “a mammograph is good, but you also need people to read the x-rays“. “It’s a health channel to review, but it’s urgent to do so“, concludes Jean-Marie Piot.