MammoScreen: Innovative and safe microwave-based imaging technology to make breast cancer screening more accurate, inclusive and female-friendly

乳腺癌（BC）是全世界女性中最常见的癌症，每8名女性中就有1名患有乳腺癌。世卫组织国际癌症研究机构的数据估计，到2020年，全球乳腺癌病例占妇女所有癌症病例的24%（全球226万妇女和68.5万人死亡）。乳房x光摄影是乳房筛查的黄金标准技术，已经通过不同的随机对照试验证明了它可以降低乳腺癌的死亡率。然而，它有局限性和潜在的危害，例如电离辐射的使用，乳房压迫和x射线固有性质造成的性能限制。特别是，乳房密度是一种限制性特性，可以防止乳房密度较高的女性在乳房x光检查中发现乳腺癌。其他现有技术（核磁共振、超声、活检）也存在缺陷。乳房筛查提案的总体目标是为在国家或地区卫生系统推动的以人群为基础的项目中使用乳房筛查波（一种由UBT开发的技术）作为筛查技术提供证据，以实现乳房筛查的革命。为此，该联盟旨在确认在10000名接受常规筛查计划的研究参与者中，乳房x线波检测BC的灵敏度达到>90%，特异性达到>95%。乳房造影使用安全的非侵入性和非电离微波信号，不会对乳房施加任何压力，对致密的乳房非常有效。因此，它可以将乳房筛查扩展到20-49岁的年轻女性（欧洲有9800万女性）。到2020年，这一群体约占乳腺癌的30%。该项目将进行全面的卫生经济评估，并寻求创新的方式来实施患者参与的方法。将实施一项有效的决策者参与计划，以确保推荐乳房x线波作为筛查方法，因为它给妇女和卫生保健系统带来了好处。这一行动是癌症使命“预防，包括筛查”项目集群的一部分。

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women worldwide, affecting 1 in 8 women. The figures from WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer estimate that in 2020 worldwide cases of breast cancer accounted for 24% of all cancers in women (2.26 million women and 685,000 deaths globally). Mammography is the gold standard technology for breast screening, which has been demonstrated through different randomized controlled trials to reduce breast cancer mortality. However, it has limitations and potential harms, such as the use of ionizing radiation, breast compression and performance restrictions due to the intrinsic nature of X-rays. In particular, breast density is a restrictive property that can prevent breast cancer detection in mammograms of women with radiographically dense breasts. Other existing techniques (MRI, Ultrasound, biopsy) also suffer from drawbacks. The overall aim of the MammoScreen proposal is to generate evidence about the use of MammoWave (a technology developed by UBT) as screening technique in population-based programs promoted by National or Regional Health Systems, to reach a revolution in breast screening. To do so, the consortium aimsto confirm that MammoWave reachessensitivity>90% and specificity>95% in BC detection on 10000 study participants undergoing regular screening programs. MammoWave uses safe non-invasive and non-ionizing microwave signals, does not apply any compression to the breast and is very effective with dense breasts. Hence it can extend the breast screening to younger women aged 20-49 (98 million women in Europe). This group accounts for ~30% of breast cancers in 2020. A comprehensive health economic assessment will be undertaken in this project and innovative way to implement patient engagement approaches is sought. An effective policy makers’ engagement plan will be carried out to ensure that MammoWave is recommended as screening approach due to the benefits that it brings to women and healthcare systems. This action is part of the Cancer Mission cluster of projects on ‘Prevention, including Screening.