Kenichi-Tanaka, Managing Director, FUJIFILM India

To celebrate the spirit of International Women’s Day, FUJIFILM Corporation organised a seminar to spread awareness about breast cancer in India. Dr. S.K Ramani, MD, Additional Professor and Assistant Radiologist, Department of Radio Diagnosis, Tata Memorial Hospital chaired the Seminar. Mr.Kenichi Tanaka, Managing Director, FUJIFILM India and Ms.Miyuki Iizuka, Mammography Specialist from FUJIFILM Tokyo, also participated in the seminar.

Dr. Ramani highlighted the significance of mammography in his presentation and focused on the merits of Digital Mammography for detecting breast cancer at an early stage.

Mammography is a special type of X -ray Imaging used to create a detailed image of the breast. Mammography plays a vital role in the early diagnosis of breast cancer, on which chances of detecting breast cancer and cure depend. It is reported that, each year 80,000 women in India are diagnosed as having breast cancer, and that 35,000 die of it. 1 in 60 rural women and 1 in 30 urban women are likely to develop breast cancer in her lifetime. It is the second most common cancer after cervical cancer.

According to Dr. S.S. Doda, former president of the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA), “With the change in our lifestyles and the increase in urbanisation, there may soon be a need for widespread mammography screening programme in our country so as to save our women from breast cancer by early detection and cure.”

There is unequivocal evidence from randomly controlled trials that screening of women between the ages of 50 and 65 years by mammography alone can, by early detection, reduce mortality from breast cancer by about 20 – 30%. It is the most practical, cost effective breast cancer detection method available. Mammography is the only scientifically validated screening test for early detection of breast cancer.

According to Dr. Ramani, “Digital mammography has taken its place in radiology. It has operational advantages of diagnostic ability. Digital storage and transmission, eliminates the risk of lost films and eventually does away with the need for a film library. It reduces the variability in contrast, dose, and exposure time associated with film emulsion and processing.

From the patient’s perspective, the biggest advantage of Digital Mammography is speed. They do not have to wait long for films to develop to make results available faster. Wire localizations are affected more dramatically a patient does not have to stay in compression for a longer period.

The time is cut down – between exposure and image display from 10-20 secs (3 mins for Screen Film Mammography) – both total procedure time and patient discomfort are markedly decreased. Digital Mammography betters Screen Film Mammography (SFM), which has a limited dynamic range.

Across the world it is seen that digital mammography is more effective in detecting cancers than film in women under 50 or pre-menopausal. Digital mammography allows radiologists to heighten the contrast between dense tissue and cancerous cells, which both appear to be white on a film mammogram.

Speaking at the seminar, Ms. Iizuka, Mammography specialist from FUJIFILM Tokyo, said, “If detected at an early stage, breast cancer can be completely cured. Digital Mammography helps in detecting breast cancer at an early stage as the technology that is used absorbs X-rays at high efficiency and the image-processing technology obtains high-quality images.”

FUJIFILM’s FCR Mammography Suite has FDA approval. It has also been approved by the National Health Service of U.K., as the only CR Mammography system to meet the European Reference Organisation for Quality Assured Breast Screening and Diagnostic Services, (EUREF) guidelines.

To spread awareness about breast cancer, FUJIFILM supports the Pink Ribbon campaign in Japan, which appeals the importance of early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment for breast cancer.

Mr. Tanaka, Managing Director, Fujifilm India said, “It has been our constant endeavour to spread awareness about breast cancer and how it can be stemmed at an early stage. FUJIFILM is a strong supporter of the Pink Ribbon campaign, which aims to raise awareness of breast cancer among women, and promote early examination and treatment to reduce the mortality rate from this disease. We are hopeful that we will be able to replicate the same model in India to spread awareness.”

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