Roche Diagnostics supports precise diagnosis of breast cancer

Confronted with an ever-going array of complex and varied health challenges, women’s health is an important issue of global concern, and it’s crucial to reshape the healthcare system to meet women’s diversified health needs.

A Women’s Health Campaign named as "Freedom To Be" was launched in China by Roche Diagnostics this year. One of the objectives of the campaign is to close the disease awareness gap and enhance women's self-awareness in managing their own health, and drive a transformation in women’s health.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As the most common cancer diagnosed in women, breast cancer has become one of the biggest threats to women's health.

There were more than 2.26 million new cases of breast cancer in 2020 globally, surpassing lung cancer for the first time. Breast cancer has become the most prevalent cancer in the world.

In China, breast cancer is also the female cancer with the highest incidence and mortality. There are more than 420,000 new cases and over 120,000 death cases reported annually in the nation, imposing a burden on individuals, families and society.

Breast cancer is closely related with factors like gender, age and genetic background. According to the World Health Organization, the majority of breast cancer is in females and the risk increases along with age. Genetic mutation of BRCA1, BRCA and PALB-2 can greatly raise the risk.

Moreover, unhealthy lifestyles like smoking, drinking and obesity adds the risk.

But there are no significant symptoms of breast cancer in the early stages. Many patients are not diagnosed with disease until they suffer serious symptoms, missing the best time for treatment. According to data, about 3 to 10 percent of patients have already suffered remote metastasis while being diagnosed.

So precise diagnosis plays a vital role in breast cancer management. Early and efficient screening, diagnosis and treatment are essential for patients' long-term survival and life quality.

About 98 percent of patients in early the stage can enjoy a five-year survival, which means clinical recovery, which drops to 24 percent if the disease is detected in the terminal stage.

Precise diagnosis which supports accurate typing and subtyping of breast cancer is the primary avenue for high-quality medical treatment.

Breast cancer is divided into four types – Luminal A, Luminal B,HER2 positive and triple negative. Precise typing can assist doctors to choose the most appropriate medication, design treatment plan and make better forecasts of prognosis.

However the testing process is a complicated process, which consists of pathological sample collection, dyeing analysis and result evaluation, and any mistake could influence the accuracy of the result.

Roche Diagnostics provides HER2 (4B5), HER2 DISH, ER (SP1), PR (1E2), Ki-67 (30-9) and other tests to support precise typing and diagnosis in breast cancer. These tests are used in combination with the fully automated BenchMark instruments, which can standardize all processes, reduce the possibility of human error, and enable pathologists to deliver high-quality, time-critical results.