Diagnosis Rates Through Cancer Screening Programs in Patients with Breast Carcinoma

AIM: This study investigated whether breast cancer patients had ever applied for Cancer Early Diagnosis Screening and Training Centers (KETEM). METHOD: This study, conducted from November 2020 to April 2021, adopts a cross-sectional research design and is planned as a survey study. The “Diagnosis Rates with Screening Programs in Breast Cancer Patients” survey was conducted on women over 45 who were diagnosed with breast cancer in the Medical Oncology Clinic of İzmir Katip Çelebi University Atatürk Education and Research Hospital. Further information about the cancer stage was gathered from the Medical Oncology outpatient clinic file records. Data obtained in the study were evaluated using the the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26.0 software (IBM Corp.; Armonk, NY, USA), using the number, percentage distribution, arithmetic mean, and chi-square test methods. RESULTS: It has been determined that most patients diagnosed did not receive a diagnosis through screening programs, were not aware of KETEM, and did not apply to KETEM. A positive relationship was found between the level of education and participation in screening programs. It was observed that women who knew about the KETEM’s participated more often in the scans. CONCLUSION: The study discovered a lack of knowledge and inadequacy in screening programs for patients with breast cancer. We believe that it is essential to introduce and disseminate KETEMs so that cancers can be detected early through screening.