Overall, 76% of the patients had not undergone any mammographic examination prior to diagnosis. Among those who had undergone at least one mammography, 37.3% had their most recent examination more than four years before diagnosis. When these two subgroups were combined, it was found that 85% of patients diagnosed with breast cancer had not received a recent mammographic evaluation within the four years preceding diagnosis that might have enabled earlier detection of the disease. Conclusion: This study highlights the limited use of mammography for the early detection of breast cancer in Romania through periodic examinations within an opportunistic screening setting. Consequently, most cases are diagnosed only after the onset of signs and symptoms. This finding reflects insufficient public awareness of the benefits of early detection of this disease. Among the 2,500 women with breast cancer who were interviewed in this study, 76% had never undergone a mammographic examination in their lifetime. Moreover, 85% had not undergone any mammography within the four years preceding diagnosis. The development and consolidation of public information and medical education initiatives are essential to increase participation and improve population-level understanding of the benefits of early detection for breast cancer. However, even when it is widely implemented, opportunistic screening alone is unlikely to achieve a meaningful population-level impact. A reduction in breast cancer mortality through early diagnosis can only be achieved through the implementation of an organized, national screening program.
Blidaru et al. (Thu,) studied this question.