GE Healthcare, the $17 billion healthcare business of General Electric Company (GE), is highlighting the importance of early screening in the diagnosis of breast cancer by offering digital mammography reading workshops for the first time in Egypt.

The workshops will be part of the two-day Mediconex Updates on Breast Cancer and Women’s Imaging Symposium which opens tomorrow (April 7) at the Cairo International Conference Centre.

This training initiative is in line with the global vision of GE Healthcare, which revolves around its 'Early Health' model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention, said an official spokesman.

According to the World Health Organisation, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the world. 

GE Healthcare’s training initiative supports the Egyptian Ministry of Health’s “National Breast Cancer Screening Programme” vision to provide educational resources and tools to radiologists, radiographers, surgeons and other health professionals in managing breast cancer.

The workshop is being held in collaboration with the Dutch National Expert and Training Centre for Breast Cancer Screening (LRCB).

Egypt is one of the first countries in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) region to successfully launch a breast cancer-screening programme. Using GE’s digital mammography mobile solution, local healthcare professionals readily travel from city to city, with the target to reach more women for breast cancer assessment.

The imaging data transfer is done via satellite transmission to a centre for analysis and diagnosis. It is one of the first programmes in Europe to implement images transmission via satellite.

Nearly 20 per cent of all oncology cases reported in Egypt are breast cancer-related, signaling the challenges facing the medical sector in treating this condition.

The National Cancer Institute reports that breast cancer is most common among Egyptian women. According to industry experts, the five-year survival rate in cases of early detection of breast cancer is 95 per cent.

By actively supporting breast care clinicians through continuing education, GE Healthcare is responding to this health burden.

GE Healthcare is one of the only manufacturers in the industry today providing the entire mammography imaging chain from tube, detector to review workstation, and integrates the comprehensive local requirements for each customer.

GE Healthcare offers one of the most advanced multi-modality technologies for breast care mammography. GE’s Senographe was the first and only full-field digital mammography system designed to meet all clinical needs, from screening to diagnostic and interventional procedures. 

Senographe and Seno Advantage 2 multi-modality breast imaging workstation are cornerstones of GE’s digital mammography offering, and are an integral part of the successful Egyptian Screening Programme. – TradeArabia News Service