Breast cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world. The most recent global cancer burden figures estimate that there were 2.26 million incident breast cancer cases in 2020 and the disease is the leading cause of cancer mortality in women worldwide. The incidence is strongly correlated with human development, with a large rise in cases anticipated in regions of the world that are currently undergoing economic transformation. Survival, however, is far less favourable in less developed regions. There are a multitude of factors behind disparities in the global survival rates, including delays in diagnosis and lack of access to effective treatment. The World Health Organization’s new Global Breast Cancer Initiative was launched this year to address this urgent global health challenge. It aims to improve survival across the world through three pillars: health promotion, timely diagnosis, and comprehensive treatment and supportive care. In this article, we discuss the key challenges of breast cancer care and control in a global context.
This article discusses the significance of microcalcifications on mammography and the changes in technology that have influenced management; it also describes a pragmatic approach to investigation of microcalcification in a UK screening programme.
BACKGROUND AND PREVALENCE OF MICROCALCIFICATIONSMicrocalcifications result from the deposition of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate within the breast tissue. The mechanism by which calcium deposition occurs is not clearly understood; it may be an active cellular process, or an effect of cellular degeneration. Calcification deposits are found within the ductal system, the breast acini, stroma and vessels, mainly as calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate.
Summary. Current practice with regard to the technique of blood pressure measurement in pregnancy was assessed by means of a self‐completed questionnaire sent to all midwives (116) and obstetricians (11) working in a UK District General Hospital obstetric unit. The response rate was 72% (91 respondents). Over half of the respondents (53%) use the fifth phase diastolic end point (contrary to current recommendations). Of the 75 respondents who had access to a large adult cuff 54 (72%) had used it on ‘less than two occasions’ over the preceding four weeks. Only 10% (9) of respondents reported that they record blood pressure to the nearest 2 mmHg and 23% (22) reported that they round blood pressure readings to the nearest 10 mmHg. There were diverse views on the interpretation of multiple blood pressure recordings. The conclusion is that compliance with current recommendations on blood pressure measurement technique in pregnancy is poor. There is poor agreement among midwives and obstetricians as to how blood pressure should be recorded in pregnancy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.