The role of digital tools for breast cancer risk factor assessment in general practice and their impact on screening

Jadranka Karuza - Soom

Keywords: breast cancer, digital medical tools, opportunistic screening, primary care

Background:

Croatia has higher breast cancer (BC) mortality rate compared to developed countries. In 2021 BC is ranking ninth among the ten leading causes of female deaths. Croatian national program for early BC detection was implemented in 2006 inviting all women aged 50-69 to attend a mammography every two years. A new digital tool has been developed and tested in family medicine in order to contribute BC early diagnosis and better outcomes.

Research questions:

How the involvement of family doctors and use of digital tools influence early diagnosis of BC in female patients.

Method:

Pilot project started in October 2022 with expected duration of 18 months including 47 family medicine practices from various parts of the country. Digital tool is implemented in everyday family doctor practice and used for BC risk assessment of women who came for any reason and referral to screening according to Croatian clinical guidelines for BC radiological diagnosis. Based on the obtained data, the control group will be the same respondents in the five-year period before the introduction of the panel.

Results:

Preliminary results in one office in six months period based on 220 women assessed 18,2% as high risk, and 2 patients undergoing CNB with histopathological finding of high risk lesions.

Conclusions:

Based on the analysis of all pilot projects' results assessment of benefits of used digital tool implementation in all family medicine doctors’ offices in Croatia will be made with the aim of early diagnosis improvement and reducing mortality especially in high risk women and those not included in National program due to age. Greater involvement of family doctors in secondary prevention of BC that can be achieved with the implementation of our digital tool is consistent with National Strategic Framework Against Cancer until 2030 which gives family doctors a significant place in early diagnosis of cancer.

Points for discussion:

Women with high risk for breast cancer development

Can digital tools be helpful for better outcomes in chronic and malignant disease?

Strengthening the role of family medicine in early cancer diagnosis.

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