Breast cancer is a common disease and approximately 1 in 10 women will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer during their life. The introduction of mammography screening together with improved treatments has led to a reduction in breast cancer mortality of 30%. This means many women survive this devastating disease and the key to survival is early detection of breast cancer. Early detection increases the chances of surviving breast cancer and can potentially increase the treatment options, meaning less surgery and more tolerable treatment plans.

But mammography does not detect all cancers. Mammography has difficulty showing cancer lesions in the presence of so called dense-breast tissue. This tissue appears white on a mammogram and can mask the presence of cancer. Breast density is not something that can be felt or seen with the naked eye. It is only visible as a density using mammography. Younger women have more dense tissue and as a women ages this is gradually replaced with non-dense tissue. Consequently, in many countries mammography is not recommended for younger women (often defined as below 50 years).

Breast cancer, like all cancers, occurs when cells lose their ability to control their growth. With time the tumour becomes bigger, more unstable and more dangerous. The growth of a tumour is defined by Doctors using a scale called staging. Stage 0 is a very early stage where the tumour has not broken past its boundaries. Stage 1 tumours have started to invade the tissue surrounding them. Later stages are defined by increasing tumour size and spreading of the cancer to lymph nodes and distant organs, this stage is also called metastatic cancer. As the stage increases it is harder to completely remove the cancer and therefore it is important to detect cancer as early as possible.

Breast cancer comes in two major forms: Ductal cancer, which comes from the ducts, or tubes that transport the milk to the nipple, and lobular cancer which comes from the lobes where milk is made. Mammography is poor in detecting lobular cancer due to the specific way the cancer grows. Lobular cancer is seen in approximately 15% of breast cancer cases.

BCtect® is a blood test to detect breast cancer. Our studies show that it can detect early-stage cancer with equal sensitivity in young and older women. The test has equal sensitivity for ductal and lobular cancer types and is unaffected by the most common medications.

If you are concerned about breast cancer, have breast density as seen on a mammogram, or have a family history of breast cancer, then BCtect® may be suitable for you.