RECENT HIGH-PROFILE cases of breast cancer misdiagnosis have resulted in a growing awareness among women of the importance of getting checked for the disease, according to a senior radiologist at one hospital which has seen newly diagnosed cases almost double in 12 months.
According to Dr Pauline Smiddy, a consultant radiologist at the Symptomatic Breast Care Unit at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH) in Cork, the decision by women who suffered misdiagnosis to go public has greatly helped raise awareness of the disease.
"Those women had very unfortunate and very regrettable experiences - they showed great courage in coming forward and one of the positive spin-offs from the bad publicity is that women are in general now much more aware of breast cancer and the services available."
Dr Smiddy works as part of the multidisciplinary breast care team at the Symptomatic Breast Care Unit at SIVUH which has experienced a dramatic increase in diagnosed cases over the past 12 months to the point that it is now set to become the biggest in the State.
"The incidence of breast cancer is not increasing, but awareness is and so is the recognition of the expertise and level of care here," she said.
"Last year the unit treated 210 breast cancer patients and by the end of April this year it had treated 110 - a 93 per cent increase on the same period last year.
"If activity were to continue at this rate, the projected total symptomatic cancer caseload for the unit for 2008 would be in the region of 330, or approximately 19 per cent of the national caseload, compared to 12 per cent last year, making it the largest in the country," she said.
Dr Smiddy said these figures did not include up to 100 additional breast cancers referred to the unit for surgery by the southern unit of BreastCheck which opened last December at SIVUH to provide screening for all women aged 50-64 years.
The breast care unit, which was formally established at the hospital in 1992 and was designated a specialist Symptomatic Breast Unit in the O'Higgins Report on Symptomatic Services in 2000, provides a consultant- delivered service and carries out some 5,000 mammograms every year.
"The majority of patients presenting to the hospital with symptomatic breast disease have benign breast disease. Of the 2,081 new breast patients assessed in 2007, only 10 per cent were diagnosed with cancer - 90 per cent had benign conditions and were treated accordingly."
Dr Smiddy said that patients ranged in age from 19 to 90 with 10 per cent of patients being aged 30-39, 17 per cent aged 40-49, 31 per cent aged 50-59, 20 per cent aged 60-69, 18 per cent aged 70-79 and 4 per cent over 80 while two patients were men over 70.
Some 69 per cent of patients were referred to the specialist breast unit by a GP while another 11 per cent came following an X-ray with some 10 per cent being referred by private consultants and 8 per cent being referred by other hospitals.
Dr Smiddy said that while there had been much negative publicity about some cases in the past year, the unit at SIVUH had succeeded in providing a definitive diagnosis within two weeks for 92 per cent of urgently referred patients.
