Bertis announces breast cancer screening survey results
ahead of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Eight out of ten women responded, “breast cancer screening is necessary”

- Bertis conducted a breast health awareness survey on 1,000 women in their 20s to ‘50s with the Korean Breast Cancer Society ahead of “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” in October.

- Six out of ten women have experienced breast cancer screening through mammography, breast ultrasound, etc.

- Reasons for discomfort during breast cancer screening include “pain” for mammography and “embarrassment” for breast ultrasound.

- 91% of respondents said they are interested in undergoing breast cancer screening and blood tests. The key is a “simple and comfortable screening procedure."

On October 28, Bertis Inc. (co-CEOs Dong-young Noh and Seung-man Han), which has developed a proteomics-based early diagnosis technology, announced the results of a survey on the awareness of breast health. The survey was conducted on 1,000 women in their 20s to ‘50s in partnership with the Korean Breast Cancer Society (President Kim Gwon-cheon) ahead of “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” in October.

According to the survey results, 48.8% of the respondents said they are worried about breast cancer and 83.6% responded that breast cancer screening is necessary, showing a social consensus on the importance of breast cancer screening.

■ 63.8% of women have undergone breast cancer screening. Some women feel uncomfortable during screening due to “pain,” “embarrassment,” and so on.

The representative methods of breast cancer screening are mammography and breast ultrasound, which are imaging tests. Also, in this survey, six out of ten women said they had undergone breast cancer screening. Among respondents who had experienced breast cancer screening, 32.6 percent said they had mammography, 15.5 percent said they had a breast ultrasound, and 49.5% said they had both mammography and breast ultrasound.

Meanwhile, to the question, “Have you ever felt uncomfortable during breast cancer screening?” 71.4% of respondents who had mammography and 42.6% of respondents who had a breast ultrasound answered that they had felt uncomfortable and burdened.

As for the reasons for discomfort, in the case of mammography, pain (79.6%) took first place, followed by ▲ being embarrassed (47.7%), ▲ a concern of radiation exposure (36.1%), ▲ screening process (15.8%), and ▲ other reasons (1.4%). In the case of breast ultrasound, the reasons cited were ▲ being embarrassed (52.4%), ▲discomfort caused using ultrasonic gel (39.7%), ▲ screening price (33.5%), ▲ pain (21.4%), and ▲ long waiting time (19.2%), in that order.

Regarding the reasons for not undergoing breast cancer screening, the respondents selected the following factors: ▲don’t feel the need (48.6%, 176 respondents), ▲ no recommendation from screening institutions (37%, 134 respondents), ▲ fear of screening (30.4%, 110 respondents), ▲ the burden of screening price (21.5%, 78 respondents), and ▲ being embarrassed (15.2%, 55 respondents).

■ Low awareness, high interest for breast cancer blood test 

Bertis also confirmed the need for new breast cancer screening methods, such as blood testing, through this survey.

To the question, “Do you know about the breast cancer blood test?” only 10.3% of respondents said yes, suggesting that awareness of the screening method was low. However, most of the respondents had a positive reaction to the breast cancer blood test. To the question, “Do you intend to take a blood test for breast cancer screening?” 90.6% of respondents said they intended to take it in conjunction with existing breast cancer screening (mammography and breast ultrasound) while only 9.4% said they had no intention of taking the blood test.

As for the advantages of breast cancer screening through a blood test, most of the respondents selected the simple comfortable test procedure (83.8%, 838 respondents). The respondents also picked ▲ short screening time (60.6%, 606 respondents), ▲ no concern of radiation exposure (60%, 600 respondents), ▲ no burden of pain (59.5%, 595 respondents), and ▲ not being embarrassed (54.9%, 549 respondents).

■ The survival rate for stage IV breast cancer is just 34%, so early detection is key.

Given that the average life expectancy of a Korean woman is 83 years, one in 25 women will experience breast cancer in their lifetime. If the cancer is detected in stage 0 to II, the 5-year survival rate is as high as 90%. However, as the survival rate rapidly decreases to 34% in stage IV, experts stress that early detection of breast cancer is critical.

Under these circumstances, Bertis has introduced “MASTOCHECK,” a blood test that enables the diagnosis of breast cancer in early stages, through major medical centers. MASTOCHECK is a screening method that detects early-stage breast cancer using a small amount of blood, only 1 ml, with 92% accuracy (based on the patent). It shows excellent screening efficacy even when used alone, but if it is used along with mammography, the sensitivity (positive detection rate) increases to a very high level. It boasts excellent safety and convenience in that it can detect breast cancer by simply using the blood of patients, without the risk of radiation exposure.

“Early detection of breast cancer can increase quality of life after treatment through breast conservation and a fast recovery during the treatment process. As many cancers diagnostic technologies have recently been developed, there are a variety of choices for breast cancer screening, such as blood tests that can be used with existing breast cancer screening techniques. Therefore, people need to take an interest in their in-breast health through active, regular screening,” explained Professor Yu-mi Kim of the Early Breast Cancer Unit, Cha University Gangnam Medical Center.