Guidelines and training to support breast cancer care
The EU’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, is spearheading the fight against breast cancer. It coordinates the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC), a comprehensive project that involves 35 countries – the EU Member States, Iceland, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey.
The ECIBC is drawing up EU-wide guidelines for medical specialists, patients and policy-makers that will include around 90 best practices and recommendations on practical issues such as how to plan and execute screening programmes, or which biopsy and tissue analysis techniques to apply on individual patients. This should universally improve treatment quality and provide a new reference point for practitioners. The ECIBC has also established training requirements for the healthcare professionals involved in the process, such as radiographers or radiologists.
By the end of 2019, the guidelines will be made available to all relevant medical staff and treatment centres in the participating countries. They also have access to a website which is regularly updated with new information, studies and analyses.
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