Portable mammography devices to help screen rural women

A fear of pain, the risks involved, the distance and cost and the possibility of being diagnosed with breast cancer, are found to be some of the reasons why they do so.

However, there are portable mammography devices which can be taken to the rural areas and could provide the people these tests where preventive healthcare is unable to reach, because of the distance from the testing centres.

Explaining the working of the portable system, Sivakumar P, CEO, Trivitron Healthcare, a leading medical device company, said, “It is a regular mammography system mounted inside a bus, with special protection, to withstand any possible jolts during transportation. The bus can reach the interior areas in rural areas to perform the screening.

While the machine used is either an analog or a digital one, the reports are sent through teleradiology for interpretation.” While urban women themselves are apprehensive about undergoing the screening, the challenges faced by doctors to get women from rural pockets to come forward for the same are much higher. “There are a number of issues surrounding mammography screening.

Our country does not have a population-based screening.

While the screening is identified as extremely painful, it is known that the test by itself causes some radiation. Not only do the mobile mammography systems come to you, but the fear caused due to the hospital environment will not be there,” said Dr Selvi, from Chennai Breast Centre.

While western countries tend to scan women above 50 years of age, doctors in the country urge women between the ages 40 and 50 to also undergo the screening. “Breast cancer is common among the elderly, but in our country, women between 40 and 50 are also prone to this type of cancer. Some amount of awareness in that age group is required. We see people dismissing it off and stating that they are not 50, therefore they need not go for mammography scan. Women also tend to ignore symptoms and do not do anything proactive about it,” she stated, adding that the mobile screening system will however encourage women to come forward for tests.