Dr David Gallagher, a cancer geneticist at the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin, said the remaining women who are told they have the BRCA-1 gene after a blood test opt for regular screening. However women have to wait 18 months for the test…
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Medical news service from Penhire
Blog Archives
Half of cervical smears analysed in US
MedLab Pathology, based in Sandyford, which junior minister Alex White will officially open today, is a fully-functioning accredited cervical screening unit with a throughput of 160,000 samples per year but which, according to its CEO Eamonn Madden, has the capacity…
Susan Connolly on CT calcium screening
CT calcium scoring of course has it merits, but robust clinical evidence for widespread screening using this test does not yet exist. It is for exactly that reason that it does not feature as part of UK guidelines (contrary to…
Colorectal screening for cancer introduced
The long-promised national colorectal-cancer screening programme has finally been introduced, without the usual fanfare that attends such initiatives. The programme, known as BowelScreen, started last November with the phased screening of 500,000 men and women in their 60s, Minister for…
Greater risk of cervical cancer in poor women
MEDICAL card holders are 50pc more likely to have an abnormal test result after undergoing cervical screening. The Dublin Well Woman Centre said this rate of abnormal smear test results – which need further investigation – is “disproportionately higher” among…
Older women not taking smear test
Women aged 45 and over are less likely to attend for regular smear tests than younger women, the Irish Family Planning Association has said. Though the immune system can clear the virus over time, the length of time between acquiring…
Bowel cancer screening set to take three years
IT will take three years to complete screening of all 500,000 people in their 60s who have been prioritised under the upcoming national bowel cancer screening programme. (Independent) >
Abnormal smear test results for one in six women last year
Over 84 per cent of smear tests were negative or normal, almost 14 per cent showed low-grade abnormalities and 1.7 per cent showed high-grade abnormalities, the report says. The figure for low-grade abnormalities was higher than expected and requires further…
Micro gene discovery may refine cancer screening
The genetic control system involving the novel gene has been identified by Prof Charles Spillane’s Genetics and Biotechnology Laboratory in collaboration with Prof Michael J Kerin of the National Breast Cancer Research Institute, both based at NUIG. (Times) >
Concern over screening delay for diabetic retinopathy
PROGRESS HAS stalled on the development of a €4 million HSE national screening programme to identify the sight-threatening condition diabetic retinopathy (DR). Dr Kevin Moore of the Irish Endocrine Society and chairman of Diabetes Action said that back in 2010,…
Department to spend €60,000 on Breastcheck review
The Department of Health is to spend up to €60,000 in a bid to identify efficiencies in a value-for-money review on the State’s rollout of Breastcheck. A spokeswoman for the National Cancer Screening Service, which administers Breastcheck, said yesterday that…
High rates of prostate, lung cancer diagnosed
The National Cancer Control Programme, which is responsible for overseeing cancer services, said that so far 4,000 patients sent by GPs for breast, prostate and lung rapid-access screening in the past year had their referrals sent electronically. (Independent) >
Cancer-screening device sits idle in hospital as private operator sought
A SPECIALIST cancer-screening facility in Cork will remain closed until later this year as a private provider is sought to operate it. The purpose-built screening unit houses an unused €3.8 million Pet (positron emission tomography) scanner used for superior detection…
Breast screening service hit by staff shortages
A TARGET of offering all eligible woman a free X-ray to check for breast cancer every two years was not met in 2010, as the BreastCheck service was hit by a shortage of staff. Majella Byrne, acting director of the…
British experts to test hospital’s cancer screening
A GROUP of medical experts from Britain will put Ennis Hospital under the microscope to ensure it meets all the best clinical standards for the introduction of a new life-saving colorectal cancer screening unit. Ennis is one of the 15…
Why today’s young cancer patients have the best chance of beating it
“With breast cancer, for instance, we’re now seeing cases at an earlier stage and that’s almost certainly due to screening,” says Dr Harry Comber of the National Cancer Registry. “However, it’s almost impossible to tell whether the improved survival rates…
Bowel cancer blow as public screening plan is postponed
A LONG-awaited national bowel cancer screening programme, which was due to start next January, has been postponed, the Irish Independent has learned. Aimed at cutting the disease’s annual death toll of 950 people, the programme has been in preparation for…
One in 8 smear tests shows an abnormality
Majella Byrne, the acting director of the National Cancer Screening Service, said cervical cancer was an entirely preventable disease if the right systems were in place. And she said people could not get complacent about the scans. Clinical director Dr…
Muiris Houston says men are neglected when it comes to cancer detection
So, at the risk of annoying the screening purists, can the NCSS seriously look at targeted screening for male breast cancer and prostate cancer? As well as saving some lives, such a move would go some way to rebalancing a…
What good does screening do?
According to the authors, the results of the analysis suggest that, although a full screening programme had been running in the North for 15 years longer than in the Republic, deaths from breast cancer declined at a similar rate in…
Muiris Houston on prostate screening
In a particularly well-designed trial just published in the British Medical Journal involving more than 9,000 men who were followed up over a 20-year period, researchers found that screening for prostate cancer using a combination of a rectal examination and a blood…
Cash dries up for cardiac screening programme
THE FUTURE OF a centre offering health screening to people across the country with risk factors for sudden cardiac death is uncertain because of a lack of government funding, it has been claimed. The Centre of Cardiac Risk in Young…
North-west cancer care needs lifeline
[Dr Patrick J Henry writes to Times >>>] Madam, – The HEALTHplus Cancer Special (April 5th) was most timely. A friend of mine, a prominent Oxford cancer surgeon told me that breast cancer services were provided in all large English…
CF screening for babies welcomed
AFTER a 15-year campaign, cystic fibrosis (CF) screening is at last to be introduced for the 75,000 babies born in this country every year. Doctors have described the screening programme, which will be rolled out this summer, as a “leap…
Muiris Houston: Assessing Ireland’s cancer control strategy
An indirect measure of the success of the breast cancer centres is that Keane’s successor, Dr Susan O’Reilly, has noted that they are now attracting healthy women who do not need screening. But a study in the current issue of…
Study questions benefits of screening for prostate cancer
SCREENING FOR prostate cancer does not significantly reduce deaths from the tumour and may cause both over-detection and over-treatment, a long-term study published this morning has found. In a trial involving more than 9,000 Swedish men who were followed up…
Cancer screening programme selects 15 hospitals for tests
FIFTEEN HOSPITALS have been selected to perform colonoscopies for the national bowel cancer screening programme which is due to begin next January. The hospitals selected include Cavan, Letterkenny, Sligo, Mayo, Ennis, Tullamore, Kerry and Wexford general hospitals as well as…
Newborn babies to be tested for cystic fibrosis
ALL babies born in Irish hospitals will be routinely tested for cystic fibrosis (CF) before the summer. The screening will be added to the heel prick test, which is automatically given to newborns to detect other disorders. The long-awaited introduction…
Irish Times Pfizer Health Forum Debate: State failing people on cancer prevention
AFFLUENCE HAS a huge impact on cancer prevention, early detection and treatment, a debate on cancer in Ireland heard last night. Dominic Ó Brannagain, consultant in palliative medicine at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda was speaking at the Irish…
Breast screen benefits need to be revisited
Interesting to hear the new director of the Cancer Control Programme, Dr Susan O’Reilly, say that breast cancer centres here are now attracting healthy women who do not need screening. Have we overstimulated public anxiety about the disease? Perhaps we…
