The Macedonian Society of Breast Radiology along with Acibadem Sistina Hospital held an expert meeting on the theme “Breast cancer – where we are”. Discussions were focused on the methodology in diagnosing breast cancer, but also how to treat it. The meeting was attended by more than 50 radiologists and residents in radiology, thoracic surgeons and pathologists.

Important educational lectures were held including presentations by leading specialists in the field. The second part of the meeting was dedicated to the key challenges in breast radiology, discussed from several aspects.

One of the essential conclusions adopted regards the need to change the structure, organization and unification of the radiology report starting from the breast examination, then the need to determine breast centers including a breast radiologist, a pathologist and a thoracic surgeon for better healthcare of women, but also the need for inspecting institutions and doctors who are not radiologists but perform breast exams.

“In order to provide better healthcare for women, proposals should be submitted to the Ministry of Health to establish breast centers engaging breast radiologist, pathologist, thoracic surgeon and oncologist. It will provide adequate diagnosis and treatment within a reasonable timeframe. The institution should provide the radiologist appropriate conditions including mammography, ultrasound and breast biopsy cabinets”, were the conclusions after the meeting.

The meeting concluded as well that the Health Insurance Fund and the Ministry of Health should enable the radiologist to issue referrals for performing the necessary diagnostic examinations and biopsy on the same day, and consequently shorten the time waiting for referrals and examinations of women with positive finding; it will reduce the stress on general practitioners, but also the costs for the patient.

Radiologists have concluded that breast radiology must be performed using BI-RADS classification in the reports while the diagnostic method of MRI should be used in accordance with the protocols and recommendations by the radiologist.

“Considering the inadequate reports and breast examinations performed at different institutions by different profiles of doctors who are not radiologists, a commission should be formed to inspect institutions and doctors who perform breast exams, i.e. the profile of medical specialists, whether they have the necessary education and accreditation for this activity, as well as relevant inspection services to carry out the inspections”, the radiologists concluded.

They asked to keep records on the number of newly discovered cases of breast cancer per year, the age of breast cancer patients and other statistic information by the Public Health Institute, the Institute of Epidemiology and the Ministry of Health; they will be publicly available for MSBR needs.