No description available.

Mammographic techniques used for screening programmes need to be of the highest quality; hence, the need of a good phantom to mimic breast response to radiation. The phantom materials must be sensitive to small changes in the mammography system and provide a means of evaluating the absorbed dose to the breast. These materials have to provide the same attenuation properties as the real tissues being simulated, for the radiation modalities being investigated. Cross-linked hydrophilic copolymers have the potential to be good phantom materials for the breast as their elemental compositions are similar to soft tissue. Two types of hydrophilic copolymer materials used in this study were designated as ED1S and ED4C. They were made from a certain proportionate mixture of methyl methacrylate and vinyl pyrrolidone. The physical properties of the materials such as liquid uptake and dimensional changes in hydration and dehydration processes were studied. The equilibrium water content of ED1S and ED4C fully hydrated in water was 55% and 70% respectively. The samples underwent distortion when dehydrated and a volume approximation formula for the dehydrated samples was derived. The linear attenuation coefficient and the mass attenuation coefficient of the hydrophilic copolymer materials at photon energies in the mammographic energy region were determined. Both a single beam transmission method and a photon transmission tomography method were used. The results were compared with XCOM calculated attenuation coefficients of water and average breasts using the elemental composition found in the literature. It was found that the mass attenuation coefficient of dry hydrophilic copolymer samples closely fit the XCOM calculated old-age breast (Breast 3) and samples fully hydrated in water fit the calculated young-age breast (Breast 1). Measurements were also carried out to determine the linear attenuation coefficient of normal and abnormal breast tissues at four photon energies in the mammographic energy region. The values found were in good accord with calculated average breast values. However, more studies need to be done as only three samples were used. The electron density of the hydrophilic copolymer materials was determined by using the Compton scattering technique. The electron density for dry ED1S sample was (3.1 +/- 0.4) x 1023 electrons per cm3 and for dry ED4C was (4.4 +/- 0.4) x 1023 electrons per cm3.

Underutilization of screening mammography by Latinas continues unabated and may contribute to disparities in disease-free survival and mortality. Objective. Comparison of two discussion group-centered educational interventions at enhancing breast cancer knowledge, breast self-exams (BSE), and screening mammography. Methods. Pre-test post-test study design. Two cohorts of 200 Latinas each participated in survey screening and discussion groups at baseline. One cohort also viewed an animated video and had BSE training. Breast cancer knowledge, self-reported BSE and mammography history were measured at baseline and three months post-intervention. Results. Breast cancer knowledge scores were good for both groups at baseline, and significantly increased at three month follow-up for both groups (p<.05) but no significant difference was observed between groups at baseline or post-intervention. Conclusion. Community-based discussion groups are a cost-effective method for improving breast cancer knowledge and promoting screening behaviors.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death among the world and it has an increasing share among all causes of death. Economical burden of cancer is increasing especially in high and middle-income countries. Leaving cancer in competitive markets would lead to inefficiencies / hence governments should intervene in the market and make public decisions in struggling cancer. Among all cancer types breast cancer has the highest incidence and mortality rates in females. Causes of breast cancer still remains indeterminate and only way to cope with breast cancer are by early diagnoses. Early diagnoses can best be achieved by regular mammography screenings. This study analyzes the possible outcomes of implementing regular breast cancer mammography screening program in Turkey. A simulation model is constructed and run for 10 years, to obtain the costs and benefits of such a screening program. Costs of such a program include the screening costs and costs due to abnormal mammograms. Benefits, on the other hand are reduced treatment costs due to early diagnosis, reduced mortality and morbidity. Simulation model is run for 11 different screening strategies for determining the optimal screening strategy in terms of screening interval and minimum age to screen. The necessary data is obtained from hospital records, Cancer Early Diagnosis and Treatment Center records, IMF, WHO and TUIK databases and literature. Results of the simulation suggest that women over 40 in Turkey should be screened biennially for economical efficiency.

No description available.

The first aim of the research was to determine the applicability of certain variables from the Health Belief Model (HBM), the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the risk dimensions from the Psychometric Paradigm, the Common-Sense Model of Illness Representations and the Locus of Control to Italian women’s beliefs and behaviours in relation to screening mammography. These models have predominantly been derived and evaluated with English-speaking persons. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods to enable explanation of research-driven and participant-driven issues. The second aim was to include Italian women in health behaviour research and to contrast the Italian sample with the Anglo-Australian sample to determine if differences exist in relation to their beliefs. In Australia many studies in health behaviour research do not include women whose first language is not English. The third aim was to evaluate the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria’s (ACCV) Community Language Program (CLP) by: (a) identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the program as seen by the participants; and (b) assessing the impact of the program on women’s knowledge and beliefs about breast cancer, early detection of breast cancer, self-reported and intended breast screening behaviours. The CLP is an information service that uses women’s first language to convey information to women whose first language is not English. The CLP was designed to increase knowledge about breast and cervical cancer. The research used a pre-test-intervention-post-test design with 174 Italian-born and 138 Anglo-Australian women aged 40 years and over. Interviews for the Italian sample were conducted in Italian. The intervention was an information session that related to breast health and screening mammography. Demographic variables were collected in the Pre-Test only. Qualitative open-ended questions that related specifically to the information session were collected in the Post-Test phase of the study. Direct logistic regression was used with the participants’ beliefs and behaviours to identify the relevant variables for language (Italian speaking and English-speaking), attendance to an information session, mammography screening and breast self-examination (BSE) behaviour. Pre- and Post-Test comparisons were conducted using chi-square tests for the non-parametric data and paired sample t-tests for the parametric data. Differences were found between the Italian and Anglo-Australian women in relation to their beliefs about breast cancer screening. The Italian women were: (1) more likely to state that medical experts understood the causes of breast cancer; (2) more likely to feel that they had less control over their personal risk of getting breast cancer; (3) more likely to be upset and frightened by thinking about breast cancer; (4) less likely to perceive breast cancer as serious; (4) more likely to only do what their doctor told them to do; and (5) less likely to agree that there were times when a person has cancer and they don’t know it. A pattern emerged for the Italian and Anglo-Australian women from the logistic regression analyses. The Italian women were much more likely to comply with medical authority and advice. The Anglo-Australian women were more likely to feel that they had some control over their health. Specifically, the risk variable ‘dread’ was more applicable to the Italian women’s behaviour and internal locus of control variable was more relevant to the Anglo-Australian women. The qualitative responses also differed for the two samples. The Italian women’s comments were more general, less specific, and more limited than that of the Anglo-Australian women. The Italian women talked about learning how to do BSE whereas the Anglo-Australian women said that attending the session had reminded them to do BSE more regularly. The key findings and contributions of the present research were numerous. The focus on one cultural group ensured comprehensive analyses, as did the inclusion of an adequate sample size to enable the use of multivariate statistics. Separating the Italian and Anglo-Australian samples in the analyses provided theoretical implications that would have been overlooked if the two groups were combined. The use of both qualitative and quantitative data capitalised on the strengths of both techniques. The inclusion of an Anglo-Australian group highlighted key theoretical findings, differences between the two groups and unique contributions made by both samples during the collection of the qualitative data. The use of a pre-test-intervention-post-test design emphasised the reticence of the Italian sample to participate and talk about breast cancer and confirmed and validated the consistency of the responses across the two interviews for both samples. The inclusion of non-cued responses allowed the researcher to identify the key salient issues relevant to the two groups. The limitations of the present research were the lack of many women who were not screening and reliance on self-report responses, although few differences were observed between the Pre- and Post-Test comparisons. The theoretical contribution of the HBM and the TRA variables was minimal in relation to screening mammography or attendance at the CLP. The applicability of these health behaviour theories may be less relevant for women today as they clearly knew the benefits of and the seriousness of breast cancer screening. The present research identified the applicability of the risk variables to the Italian women and the relevance of the locus of control variables to the Anglo-Australian women. Thus, clear cultural differences occurred between the two groups. The inclusion of the illness representations was advantageous as the responses highlighted ideas and personal theories salient to the women not identified by the HBM. The use of the illness representations and the qualitative responses further confirmed the relevance of the risk variables to the Italian women and the locus of control variables to the Anglo-Australian women. Attendance at the CLP did not influence the women to attend for mammography screening. Behavioural changes did not occur between the Pre- and Post-Test interviews. Small incremental changes as defined by the TTM and the stages of change may have occurred. Key practical implications for the CLP were identified. Improving the recruitment methods to gain a higher proportion of women who do not screen is imperative for the CLP promoters. The majority of the Italian and Anglo-Australian women who attended the information sessions were women who screen. The fact that Italian women do not like talking or thinking about cancer presents a challenge to promoters of the CLP. The key theoretical finding that Italian women dread breast cancer but comply with their doctor provides clear strategies to improve attendance at mammography screening. In addition, the inclusion of lay health advisors may be one way of increasing attendance to the CLP by including Italian women already attending screening and likely to have attended a CLP session. The present research identified the key finding that improving Anglo-Australian attendance at an information session is related to debunking the myth surrounding familial risk of breast cancer and encouraging the Anglo-Australian women to take more control of their health. Improving attendance for Italian women is related to reducing the fear and dread of breast cancer and building on the compliance pattern with medical authority. Therefore, providing an information session in the target language is insufficient to attract non-screeners to the session and then to screen for breast cancer. Suggestions for future research in relation to screening mammography were to include variables from more than one theory or model, namely the risk, locus of control and illness representations. The inclusion of non-cued responses to identify salient beliefs is advantageous. In addition, it is imperative to describe the profile of the cultural sample in detail, include detailed descriptions of the translation process and be aware of the tendency of Italian women to acquiesce with medical authority.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2003. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

The screening mammography programme has been running succesfully in the Czech republic for 13 years. Due to its ability to uncover earlystages of breast cancer, it helps to fight this serious disease. Although the positive outcome of this programme in the Czech republic has been already proved, there is only approximately 50% of women who have been regularly treated with it.One of the major reasons for this fact is a fear of cancer induction caused by the use of X-rays during the mammography. The main goal of this thesis is to calculate the risk of breast cancer induction caused by the mammography and to compare benefits of the screening programme for a woman who goes for regular checkups and a woman who does not. The measurement of concrete doses was made in one screening centre center located in western bohemia region. The group of observed patients at the age of 45-59 was divided into three categories. The object of measurement was an average dose received during the screening mammography, plus an average dose received during an additional mammography, which may sometimes occure during the examination. These data was studied through a statistic investigation to prove that the received dose is not dependent on the patient´s age. In the theoretical part of this work main principals of the screening mammography programme and mammography itself are repeated. The methods of statistic investigation and the methodology for estimating breast cancer risks based on recommendations of ICRP Publication 103. In the practical part was proved, that the average dose received during the classical mammography does not depend on the age of the patient. This could not be proved for an additional mammography dose, because of not sufficient group of statistic data. The main hypothesis, that regular checkups using the mammographical screening programme is benefical for women , was verified.

<p>Rak dojke je trenutno po incidenciji vodeća maligna bolest kod žena kako u razvijenim tako i u zemljama u razvoju. Osnovni cilj istraživanja bio je da se defini&scaron;u faktori rizika u populaciji žena uzrasta 50-69 godina koje su obuhvaćene Nacionalnim skrining programom ranog otkrivanja raka dojke mamografijom na teritoriji Autonomne Pokrajine Vojvodine (APV). U istraživanju je kori&scaron;ćena retrospektivno-prospektivna studija. Za potrebe istraživanja formirana je grupa obolelih žena i kontrolna grupa žena na teritoriji APV. Istraživanje je obuhvatilo 510 žena sa teritorije AP Vojvodine, uzrasta od 50 do 69 godina. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da su se kao značajni prediktori raka dojke u na&scaron;em istraživanju izdvojili: 1. Hormonska terapija &ndash; one osobe koje su uzimale hormonsku terapiju značajno imaju veću verovatnoću da imaju rak dojke i obrnuto. 2. Prethodna maligna bolest &ndash; osobe koje su prethodno imale neku drugu malignu bolest imaju manju &scaron;ansu da imaju rak dojke&nbsp; 3. One žene koje vr&scaron;e samokontrolu dojke če&scaron;će su u nekliničkom uzorku. 4. Žene koje su u grupi starijih su če&scaron;će u kliničkom uzorku. 5. One osobe koje imaju u porodici nekog ko je oboleo od raka dojke če&scaron;će i same oboljevaju. Ovo je prvo istraživanje o faktorima rizika za rak dojke na populaciji žena AP Vojvodine u okviru Nacionalnog programa ranog otkrivanja raka dojke. Rezultati istraživanja daju osnove za buduća istraživanja iz ove oblasti, takođe mogu da utiču na podizanje svesti žena o značaju redovnih pregleda i ranom otkrivanju raka dojke kao i pružanje podr&scaron;ke programu skrininga.</p> / <p>Breast cancer is currently theleading malignant disease in women both in developed and developing countries. The main goal of the research was to define risk factors in the population of women aged 50-69 years, covered by the National Screening Program for Early Detection of Breast Cancer by Mammography on the territory of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The researchwasconducted asretrospective-prospective study. For the purpose of the research,were formed a group of diseased women and a control group of women in the territory of AP Vojvodina . The research involved 510 women with the territory of AP Vojvodina, aged 50 to 69 years. The results of the study showed that as significant predictors ofbreast cancer in our study. 1.Hormone Therapy -Those who have taken hormone therapy are significantly more likely to have breast cancer and vice versa. 2. Pre-existing malignant disease -people who previously had any other malignant disease have a lowerchance of having breast cancer 3. Women who perform self-control of their breasts are more often in a non-clinical sampl.e 4. Women in the elderly group are more often in the clinical sample. 5. Those who have a family member who has breast cancer are more likely to suffer from their own illness. This is the first study on the risk factors for breast cancer in the population of AP Vojvodina women within the National Breast Cancer Screening Program. The results of the research provide the basics for future research in this area, they can also help raise women&#39;s awareness of the importance of regular screening and early detection of breast cancer, as well as supporting the screening program</p>