Every year, around 270 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the province of Albacete, a malignant disease whose incidence continues to grow. Of this figure, between 55 and 60% of cases are detected through the screening programme for this pathology, which has been running for more than three decades in the province of Albacete.
In the screening campaign that the Department of Health plans to carry out this year, according to data provided by the Provincial Delegation of Albacete, there are 31,830 appointments for women in the province that will be carried out throughout the year, of which 15,789 correspond to the urban area and 16,041 to the rural area.
In fact, within the programming of this year’s detection campaign for rural areas, it is planned to install the mobile unit in 28 points to provide coverage to 45 municipalities.
So far this year, 20,357 women in the province have been invited to participate in this biannual screening programme, and 14,774 women aged between 45 and 70 have been examined. This means that coverage this year is 72.6%.
During 2023, 31,805 women were summoned to join this early detection program for breast cancer, of which 25,801 were finally examined, of which 14,889 were from rural areas. Based on these data, the participation rate in the entire campaign was 85.35%, being somewhat lower in urban areas (84.85%) compared to that obtained in rural areas (85.72%). Participation was similar to that obtained in the 2022 campaign.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women between 45 and 65 years of age worldwide, but more research, early detection and support are needed to respond to the reality of patients living with this disease and their families.
In last year’s screening campaign, 35.71% of all women examined had a normal result; 52.67% of the mammographic study findings were benign; 11.24% had a probably benign result, while 97 women were found to have lesions suspected of being malignant. In fact, these 97 cases were referred to different hospitals in both the capital and the province for confirmation or further diagnostic evaluation and therapeutic approach, 55 of them came from rural areas. Of the total samples analysed, 46 tumours were detected.
(More information in the printed edition and in the APP of La Tribuna de Albacete: (
