Seno Medical, a well-known company dedicated to developing medical detection technology, has recently teamed up with Know Your Lemons, a campaign which is funded by the international breast cancer charity that focuses on breast health and issues, to highlight the prevalence and importance of breast cancer in people.
Their joint venture has recently conducted a survey that showed how the majority is able to notice symptoms of breast cancer before getting a diagnosis. The survey was held in the Netherlands since the country is known to have the highest number of cases of breast cancer in accordance with the statistics.
Breast cancer the second most common form of cancer in the world specifically for women at the moment. A study from the World Cancer Research Fund shows that there were two million more cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the year 2018 alone. Additionally, it is among the leading causes of death in women worldwide.
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Although the developments of the variety of treatments decreased the rates of deaths in women under fifty, it continues to be a great threat. In such a situation, initiatives such as Know Your Lemons are fundamental in highlighting the importance of early diagnosis and treatment. The main image used in the campaign is that of twelve lemons, each one of which depicts a different sign of breast cancer.
In the new program by both Seno Medical and Know Your Lemons, the same image was used in collaborative educational activities. At the start of the survey, only eleven percent of the women involved were able to notice any symptom of breast cancer they had. However, after showing the 12 lemons image, the percentage increased to forty-one percent.
Sixty-eight percent of the women who were able to identify two or more symptoms stated that it was the image that helped them lookout for the signs of breast cancer development prior to getting an official diagnosis.
Out of the total number of women participating in the survey, only one-third were eligible (women aged fifty and over) for getting routine screenings or mammograms. Therefore, self-diagnosis is important especially in a country like the Netherlands with the third-highest rate of breast cancer. Learning self-examination and signs of cancer helped one out of five women in noticing the symptoms earlier.
In addition to the survey conducted by Seno Medical and Know Your Lemons, the collaboration also provides educational sessions to healthcare providers in the Netherlands that focus on signs such as oxygen content of potential tumors and abnormality in blood vessels. This is done via the use of Seno Medical’s advanced optoacoustic ultrasound imaging technology.
According to the senior vice president of sales at Seno Medical, Tammy Garcia, the main objective of the company is to help common patients diagnose a potential tumor in time for early and effective treatment.
On the other hand, the designer and founder of Know Your Lemons, Dr. Corrine Ellsworth-Beaumont, adds that there are one hundred percent chances of survival if the detection is done as early as possible. The collaboration is giving facilities and information to the healthcare providers as well as free posters to the participants.
