Even If No Suspicious Symptoms, Survival Rate Is Over 90% If Detected Early
Breast Cancer, No. 1 Incidence Cancer In The World, Best To Detect It Early

- Breast Cancer Overtaken Lung Cancer As The World's No. 1 Incidence Cancer, Raising The Need For Active Prevention and Control
- Over 90% Survival Rate With Early Detection Of Breast Cancer, Important To Prevent The Progression Through Early Diagnosis
- Due To Limitation of Existing Screening For Breast Cancer Such As Exposure To Radiation And Low Accuracy,

Needs To Expand To New Diagnostic Options
- BERTIS’ blood-based assay, MASTOCHECK Emerged As A Breast Cancer Examination Method That Has Strengths In Many Aspects

Such As Accuracy, Safety, And Convenience With 92% Accuracy
 

On March 21, celebrating Cancer Prevention Day, BERTIS (CEO, Seung-man Han), a company that developed early diagnosis technology based on proteomics, emphasized the importance of prevention and early detection of breast cancer, which recently ranked No. 1 in the world's cancer incidence. 

According to overseas papers published in the Journal of Cancer for Clinicians earlier this year, about 19.3 million cancer patients occurred, and 10 million people died from cancer worldwide in 2020. The most diagnosed cancer was breast cancer, followed by lung cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and gastric cancer. Breast cancer accounted for 11.7% of the total cancer cases despite the onset of breast cancer mostly, in women and, it surpassed lung cancer (11.4%), which had the highest incidence for the past 20 years and was ranked the new No. 1, indicating the beginning of changes in the cancer environment. Accordingly, there is a need for more active breast cancer prevention and breast health care in Korea. 

■ For Breast Cancer, Important To Prevent Stage Progression Through Early Diagnosis
In Korea, 23,000 new patients suffered breast cancer per year as of 2018, and it has increased sharply about twice over the past decade. The factors that increase the incidence of breast cancer have not been identified. They may be caused by the total duration of exposure to estrogen increased due to early menarche, late menopause, late marriage, lower fertility rates, and obesity caused by westernized diets of high fat and high calories. 

Breast cancer does not have symptoms in the early stages. Commonly as cancer goes to the later stage, patients can feel the lumps in their breast or armpit. If cancer progresses severely, either the breast or nipple may be damped inside. If it gets worse, the enlarged lump of cancer may destroy the shape of the breast. In this case, mastectomy is inevitable, so it is essential to detect breast cancer as early as possible to prevent the breast from being resected and improve the quality of life through proper treatment. 

"If breast cancer is detected early, the treatment results are positive, and the survival rate is higher than other cancers," said Dr. Moon, a professor of the surgery department at Seoul National University Hospital. He also added, "The five years survival rate for breast cancer is 90% or higher for stages 0, 1, and 2, which classify as early breast cancer. However, the survival rate drops down to 34% patients who are in stage 4 with systemic metastasis, so it's crucial to detect and treat breast cancer as early as possible to prevent the progression of the stage." 

■ Emergence Of The Need To Expand Breast Cancer Diagnosis Options
There are several methods for diagnosing breast cancer: Self-diagnosis, clinical examination, and image examination (including mammography and breast ultrasonography). In Korea, to detect breast cancer early and to reduce the mortality rate 1) conduct breast cancer screening using mammography every two years for asymptomatic women among the 40 to 69 age group, 2) determine the next step after consultation with a clinicians women among the 70 or older age group. 

However, mammography, which requires radiation exposure, is not recommended for young women or women of childbearing age. According to the National Cancer Control Program, Breast ultrasonography is an alternative method for those who do not have any other options. Unfortunately, mammography and breast ultrasonography can vary in accuracy depending on the device's performance or the person who reads the readout and in the case of the dense breast with small breasts and developed mammary tissue in most Korean women, it is difficult to identify cancer lesions. So, there is a need for more accurate diagnostic options.

■ Era In Which Breast Cancer Screening Is Possible With A Drop Of Blood
In this situation, recently, a technology that can conveniently and accurately diagnose breast cancer with a single drop of blood has been introduced, drawing attention. MASTOCHECK, an early breast cancer diagnosis technique developed by B, diagnoses early breast cancer with 92% accuracy (patent-based) with a small amount of blood. It quantitatively measures three biomarkers that are closely related to breast cancer. Then determines whether it is breast cancer or not by substituting the measured values into a patented algorithm. 

Also, MASTOCHECK is attracting attention as a technology that can effectively complement existing diagnostic methods. MASTOCHECK maintains an accurate accuracy among dense breast populations, and its radiation-free, convenience factors can be supplement factor mammography. Currently, major examination centers such as Hanaro Medical Foundation and Hanshin Medipia provide examinations using MASTOCHECK.

Seung-man Han, the CEO of BERTIS said, "MASTOCHECK's outstanding performance can provide accurate, safe, and convenient experience with breast cancer screening. It can also help those women, who struggle from not receiving satisfactory results because of the dense breasts." He also added, "I hope to provide a diagnostic method for younger women who cannot go through mammography reading due to high concentration of radiation exposure. MASTOCHECK can effectively prevent and control breast cancer through just a single drop of blood."