- The Vinalopó and Torrejón University Hospitals and the Ribera Povisa Hospital perform this radiological test on all patients with a history of breast cancer, as well as those from screening with suspected breast cancer and those who have claustrophobia and other contraindications for resonance.
- These three hospitals, together with Ribera Polusa, make up the Breast Area of the healthcare group, which will soon include the breast units of Ribera Hospital de Molina, Ribera Virgen de la Caridad and Ribera Caravaca.
In 2024, 336.305 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed according to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (seom). And in the interest of early detection of breast cancer, the health group Ribera has strongly invested in technology and the super-specialization of the professionals in the hospitals that make up its Breast Area and that, to date, they have carried out 10.813 Contrast-enhanced mammograms.
“Contrast-enhanced mammography is a technology that consists of injecting iodine contrast into the patient to reveal tumors that would go unnoticed in normal mammography, or even sometimes in 3D mammography,” explains Dr. Julia Camps, corporate head of the Breast Department of the Ribera Group.
Currently, university hospitals in Torrejon (Madrid) and Vinalopo (Elche), as well as the hospital Ribera Povisa (Vigo) are those who perform mammograms with contrast in three specific profiles of women, in addition to the cases that professionals consider necessary: patients with a personal history of breast cancer; women from screening, with suspected breast cancer, for whom mammography with contrast has allowed the waiting time for diagnosis to be reduced, and who have even had a biopsy performed on the same day if the diagnosis is confirmed positive; and also in those women with claustrophobia, pacemakers and other conditions that do not tolerate the resonance.
In the case of women with a history of breast cancer, thanks to an agreement with the Contigo FoundationRibera's Breast Department has conducted 3.800 studies on 1.800 patients.
Although breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, “survival is over 85% thanks to awareness campaigns for regular check-ups and screenings and the super-specialisation of professionals,” explains Dr Julia Camps. That is why the Ribera group formalised its Breast Area four years ago as “a cross-disciplinary area of knowledge in all the group’s hospitals, with the aim of integrating clinical-surgical protocols and promoting cross-collaboration of all professionals assigned to all breast units, with a presence on the committees that analyse the cases, and also to standardise clinical practice and implement new clinical and therapeutic techniques, sharing knowledge and experience,” she adds.
Currently, the hospitals of Torrejón, Vinalopó, Ribera Povisa and Ribera Polusa (Lugo), and will soon be integrated Ribera Hospital de Molina, Virgin of Charity River y Ribera Caravaca.
European ODELIA project
Among the most notable initiatives of the Breast Area is its participation in the European research project ODELIA, within the call for scholarships Horizon, which is the main EU funding programme for research and innovation. “The ODELIA project consists of applying artificial intelligence algorithms to magnetic resonance images with and without breast cancers with the aim of helping in the automated detection of tumours. It is the results of the algorithms and not the images or personal information of the patients that are shared, allowing the artificial intelligence to be improved and trained,” explains Dr Camps.
As explained in the guidelines of the project in which Ribera's Breast Department, the Ribera Salud Foundation and the group's technology company, Futurs, are participating, AI models have enormous potential to improve decision-making in clinical practice, especially with regard to the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of diseases, including breast cancer, with a special emphasis on earlier, better and more precise detection. However, one of the main challenges of these AI-generated models is the lack of data sets large enough to train them and become increasingly better, while respecting personal information. And this limitation is especially evident in cancer, where the collection of information faces practical, ethical and legal obstacles. The ODELIA project seeks formulas to overcome these barriers for the benefit of European patients.
Video Area of Mama Ribera, here.
Video testimonies of patients, here.
