One in 10 women will get breast cancer in her life and Latin America has one of the highest mortality rates in the world, due to the lack of timely diagnosis, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
However, Mamotest, an organization that emerged in Argentina, installed its first high-tech center in Mexico to perform state-of-the-art mammograms, and it did so in Metepec, State of Mexico, the objective is to increase early-stage breast cancer diagnoses, where the chances of survival are up to 98%.
“Very happy to arrive in Mexico with a solution that will save thousands of lives, in Argentina we met the people from MSD (which operates as Merck & Co. Inc in the United States and Canada), they invested in Mamotest, that allowed us to see beyond and Mexico was the first choice”, said Guillermo Pepe, founder and director of Mamotest in a telephone interview.
This is due to great needs that are not covered today in Mexico: access to high-quality diagnosis, breast cancer is the one that attacks women the most and from Latin American countries it is where women arrive later to have the tests done. studies, usually in stages 3 or 4, so it is the ideal place to bring this comprehensive solution.
The digital platform Mamotest in alliance with the Mexican Hospital Consortium and the Reina Madre women’s clinics began operations on February 22 in Metepec and is the first of 50 centers that the company plans to open in the next 24 months in the country, to March is expected to reach Pachuca, Hidalgo and Veracruz.
“Early diagnosis is key because up to 95% of deaths can be avoided, but there is a lot of work to reach that goal, not only is it bringing technology and specialist doctors, it is also necessary to raise awareness and education so that the woman knows that from the age of 40 she should have a mammogram every year and if there is a family history from the age of 35”, added Guillermo Pepe.
He added that once the diagnosis is achieved, the woman needs a follow-up, which is done through the digital platform, even for something complementary by requiring an ultrasound, a biopsy, laboratory studies, in addition to guiding her when choosing an oncologist for treatment. .
How does Mammotest work?
The first step is to install state-of-the-art mammographs, especially in places where there is no access to this type of technology, then the women who come to the centers have their mammography done and then it is uploaded to the cloud for review by specialist doctors.
“We try to work with the best doctors in each country, but thanks to the alliance with VARA (creator of the AI algorithm that is used by the German public health system) it further improves the diagnostic process, this will be an important help for doctors who review mammograms, since reviewing number one is not the same as reviewing 100, the view at that time is already tired and the accuracy decreases”, said the founder of Mamotest.
The system can also alert about images that the doctor may not have been able to observe, all of which makes Mamotest the best breast diagnoses (which are delivered in less than 24 hours) in the world.
MSD endorsement
Merck & Co. Inc (MSD) decided to invest in this project, for which Mamotest obtained a financing of 1.6 million dollars with which it will be able to expand its services and technological solutions.
“For us as a pharmaceutical company, in addition to direct business, it is important to make impact investments, including social and financial ones, we look for opportunities in geographies such as Mexico, and with Mamotest it perfectly represents what we are looking for,” said Kenneth Gustavsen, director global business executive of MSD.
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