Breast Cancer Screening —- Ultrasound preferred

  Breast cancer is one of the common malignancies that threaten women’s health. At present, about 1.2 million women worldwide develop breast cancer and 500,000 women die from breast cancer every year. Although China is a low incidence country for breast cancer, the incidence rate is increasing at 3% per year in recent years and the age of incidence is getting younger, about 45-55 years old.  The treatment effect of breast cancer is closely related to the early detection of the disease, early diagnosis and timely treatment, therefore, it is especially important to do a good job of breast cancer screening to prevent the disease before it happens. Early breast cancer screening has been internationally recognized as an effective prevention and control measure to improve patient survival and reduce mortality.  From the perspective of health economics, early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer can not only significantly increase the cure rate of breast cancer, but also significantly reduce the medical burden on patients and the load on national public health care resources. The enhancement of two such components, namely, early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment, can also help reduce overall medical costs and improve the accessibility and affordability of healthcare services.  Although there is currently no effective treatment for advanced tumors, breast cancer can be clinically cured if diagnosed and treated at an early stage. Therefore, governments and health authorities are devoting their attention to scientific methods to achieve early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.  Breast cancer is a common and frequent disease that seriously affects women’s physical and mental health. The effectiveness of breast cancer treatment is closely related to the early detection of the disease, early diagnosis and timely treatment. X-rays are an internationally recognized tool for early screening of breast cancer, especially in Europe and the United States. In China, ultrasound is still an important means of breast cancer screening because of its high prevalence, its large share in the market, and the fact that ultrasound is cheaper than x-ray.