Princess Grace Hospital launches BreastDay Center: a one-day pathway to diagnose breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, accounting for more than a third of all new cases of cancer in women.

Diagnosis can sometimes be a long, complex process, requiring proper coordination to ensure that the disease is detected and treated early, thereby increasing the chances of recovery.

With its BreastDay Center, the Princess Grace Hospital is offering a rapid pathway for the diagnosis of breast conditions. The Center enables all of the examinations required for diagnosis to be carried out in one location in a single day, with results available the same day too.

Our aim, for women, is to:

Create a day devoted to breast cancer screening, diagnosis and pre-treatment care:

• Organise all examinations as well as appointments with doctors and other healthcare professionals

• Have the results of scans and blood tests available the same day, and histology results within a week

• Offer a pathway with simplified access: one day/one pathway/one diagnosis

• Arrange coordinated/ simplified/quick treatment

This pathway is aimed at two types of women:

• Any patient seeking medical advice about suspected breast cancer (discovery of a lump, breast discharge, etc.).
• Any patient who had a radiological abnormality during a mammogram or ultrasound, whether they have already or not yet had a biopsy, and is seeking a second opinion.

If the results are positive, the treatment chosen will be individual and appropriate to the circumstances. In all cases, treatment is determined following a multidisciplinary consultation meeting.

Various types of treatment can be used to treat breast cancer: surgery, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapies. All are available at the Princess Grace Hospital.

       1 in 10 breast cancers is diagnosed at an advanced stage (source: e-cancer)

Cancer registry data shows that: 

• 6 in 10 breast cancers are diagnosed at an early stage (limited local spread);
• 3 in 10 are diagnosed at an intermediate stage (regional spread);
• 1 in 10 is diagnosed at an advanced stage.  

These figures remained stable throughout the study period from 2009 to 2012.
Early cancers are most often diagnosed in women aged 50–74 years (65%), compared with 59% for women under 50 and 42% for women aged over 74 years.
The most advanced cancers are most frequently diagnosed in women aged over 74 years.