Brussels, 07/11/2005 (Agence Europe) - On the occasion of the Breast Cancer Day at the European Parliament, on 18 October, German Social Democrat Karin Jöns presented the 4th updated version of the guidelines addressed to EU Member States with a view to improving the screening and early detection of breast cancer as well as the covering of medical costs and medical and psychological follow-up of women sufferers. Each year, 275,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the EU and 88,400 die of the disease despite the fact that early screening allows the death rate to be cut by almost 33%.
Since the adoption of the Karin Jöns report in 2003 calling for guidelines to be reviewed, the Commission has worked fast with the participation of Member State health professionals to produce a new 420-page document covering detection and treatment, the German MEP said. He regretted, however, that, despite progress made in several countries, only nine Member States (Belgium, Hungary, Luxembourg, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden) currently have a nation-wide screening programme. Five countries have pilot projects or regional programmes (Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Latvia). The technical organisation of a nation-wide mammography screening programme following EU guidelines would entail investment of one euro per citizen at most (each screening unit has 4 mammography machines and 2 mobile units, together with medical, technical and office equipment). Specialised training costs for screening staff would add at most an extra 25 euro-cent per citizen. After screening, appropriate treatment would need to be administered in specialised centres. Here again, however, Member States are slow to implement a measure that the European Parliament has been advocating for years. There are specialised nation-wide multi-disciplinary centres in only four countries: Sweden, Denmark, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Several isolate centres are established in France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands. In this field, the new guidelines stipulate that there should be one breast unit for around 250,000 inhabitants, or, in other words, that the EU25 should have 1,815 breast units. The guidelines also provide for teams to be formed in an interdisciplinary manner and to receive adequate training (including the nursing staff), and there should be interdisciplinary conferences held before and after operations for breast cancer, etc.
A first assessment of implementation of the new guidelines will be made in 2007. It will be followed up by a new report from the European Parliament in 2008.