The Ministry of Health and Families of the Junta de Andalucía provides expand screening breast cancer, which currently covers women from 50 to 69 years old, to cover theto population between 40 and 75 yearswith the purpose of improve early detection and with it advance the diagnosis and quality of life of those affected. The councilor Jesús Aguirre has informed of this plan, to which He has not set a date at the momentwhile it has provided other data such as the increase in adherence to the tests, that is, of the women who agree to have a mammogram and participate in the screeningwhich has gone from 67% to 72% in recent years.
Aguirre, accompanied by the Health delegate, Mary Jesus Bottle; the manager of the Reina Sofía hospital, Garcia Valley, and the coordinator of the Breast Cancer UnitMarina Álvarezhas reported on the advances that the use of artificial intelligence applied to this type of tumor is providing, such as the 3.5 point increase in the detection rate of breast cancer and the survival of almost 100% of women with early diagnosis.
This advanced technology has been applied in Córdoba from a pioneering clinical trial in Spain and Europe, according to Marina Álvarez, since March 2021, offering very satisfactory results. “At this time, very subtle lesions can be detected thanks to artificial intelligence screening, in which radiologists specialized in this technology work,” she commented.
SMS messages
Aguirre also recalled the progress in communication with potential patients. “We have piloted new health communication techniques such as the use of SMS that provides quick feed back to women undergoing mammography, considerably reducing the anguish over the results”, he pointed out. This new program uses SMS messaging to send them the appointment 15 days before the mammography, the reminder of the same 48 hours before and the subsequent communication of results.
The counselor has visited the professionals of this Unit in Córdoba to see first-hand the results of this innovative project, thanks to which waiting times have been reduced to less than a week for the participating women to know the results. Before starting this system, communications were carried out by the traditional method through through postal mail and its implementation has been carried out progressively since last October. Once fully launched, 11,680 appointment notifications have been sent, “thanks to which the participation of women in this program has been increased to 72%, compared to 67% last year”. For its part, 7,195 shipments of results have been processed electronically, “which has improved the waiting time to less than a week,” said the counselor.
Periodic notices
In the event that women do not attend the appointment, the administrative unit contacts them again to invite them to participate in the screening program again. This advance is aimed at women who participate in screening and for whom the result is normal, since if any lesion is detected, it is quickly communicated by phone call to carry out additional tests. The development of the computer part has been carried out by the ICT Provincial Subdirectorate of Córdoba and the district professionals have also worked in coordination with the Breast Unit of the Reina Sofía University Hospital.
Once this system has been implemented, a telephone survey of 209 women, of which 99.5% have confirmed receipt of the summons SMS and the results. Of these, 98% have shown that they are very satisfied and 2.8% have also requested to receive the information by letter.
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