A reason to celebrate: 10 years of mammography screening

The Rhine-Neckar-Odenwald screening region celebrated its 10th anniversary with a ceremony at the Mannheim Radiology Centre (RZM). The patron of mammography screening in Baden-Württemberg, the wife of Baden-Württemberg's Minister President Gerlinde Kretschmann, congratulated the Rhine-Neckar-Odenwald region on the successful establishment and operation of the quality-assured breast cancer screening programme. In her key note, she emphasised that it is still necessary to go public with the topic of screening. She herself was amazed at how many women in her circle of acquaintances in Sigmaringen did not go for screening. She cannot understand this irresponsibility towards themselves, which is often justified by the unpleasant examination. "The short, unpleasant pain of the examination is nothing compared to the long path of pain that can follow a breast cancer that is detected too late!" she pleads. What she regrets most is that "at the age of 70, the opportunity to take part in the screening programme comes to an end," said the 69-year-old, who will gladly continue to take part in the screening programme for years to come.

Dr Heidi Daniel from the RZM, who set up the screening programme in the region together with her colleague Dr Thomas Rahmfeld, thanked patron Kretschmann for her encouraging words. She herself emphasised the good cooperation with the friendly practices in the Rhine-Neckar-Palatinate radiology network, which made it possible to establish the screening service relatively quickly and easily not only in Mannheim, but also in Heidelberg, Wiesloch, Weinheim, Sinsheim and Mosbach. She still looks forward every week to the Friday exchange with colleagues from the other network practices and the good professional discussions. The representatives of the Mammography Screening Cooperation Association, who had travelled from Berlin, confirmed that mammography screening in the Rhine-Neckar-Odenwald region has an above-average participation rate (57%) and top marks in many other quality parameters (e.g. image repetition rate < 1%). For the past two years, a new tandem has been in charge of the programme: Dr Johannes Grieger and Carmen Czechak-Reimann. The latter particularly emphasised the long-standing loyalty of the teams at all locations, without which the consistently good performance would not have been possible.

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