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

乳腺癌（BC）是全球女性中最常见的癌症，影响八分之一的女性。世卫组织国际癌症研究机构的数据估计，2020年全球乳腺癌病例占女性所有癌症的24%（全球226万女性和68.5万例死亡）。乳房X光检查是乳房筛查的金标准技术，已通过不同的随机对照试验证明可降低乳腺癌死亡率。然而，它具有局限性和潜在危害，例如使用电离辐射、乳房压迫和由于X射线的固有性质而导致的性能限制。特别是，乳房密度是一个限制性的属性，可以防止乳腺癌检测的乳房X线照片的妇女与放射摄影致密的乳房。其他现有技术（MRI、超声、活组织检查）也存在缺点。MammoScreen提案的总体目标是生成关于在国家或地区卫生系统推广的基于人群的项目中使用MammoWave（UBT开发的技术）作为筛查技术的证据，以实现乳房筛查的革命。为此，该联盟旨在确认MammoWave在10000名接受常规筛查计划的研究参与者中进行BC检测的灵敏度>90%，特异性>95%。MammoWave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迫，对致密乳房非常有效。因此，它可以将乳房筛查扩展到20-49岁的年轻妇女（欧洲有9800万妇女）。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，并寻求实施患者参与方法的创新方法。将实施有效的政策制定者参与计划，以确保MammoWave因其给妇女和医疗保健系统带来的好处而被推荐为筛查方法。这一行动是癌症使命“预防，包括筛查”项目组的一部分。

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.