Breast cancer

Breast cancer currently presents a serious epidemiological issue in the Czech Republic:

• Approximately 7,650 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in the Czech Republic each year, corresponding to more than 144 cancers per 100,000 women in the Czech population (Figure 1, incidence curve).
• Each year, there are approximately 1,710 breast cancer deaths among women in the Czech Republic, corresponding to more than 30 breast cancer deaths per 100,000 women in the Czech population (Figure 1, mortality curve).

Figure 1: Breast cancer incidence and mortality in the Czech Republic.

The chart above shows the basic epidemiological data on breast cancer in the Czech Republic in the period 1977–2022.

Possibilities of breast cancer prevention on the level of individual women are rather limited. Since a risk factor explaining the development of breast cancer with a sufficient reliability has not been revealed yet (contrary to lung cancer, for example), timely diagnosis and early treatment is the only option for fighting the disease.

Possibilities of decreasing breast cancer mortality rates are demanding both from the organisational and financial point of view, but nevertheless have been repeatedly proved to be very cost-effective. Starting from September 2002, the Czech Republic joined the majority of European countries when it launched a nationwide breast cancer screening programme, enabling women aged 45–69 to undergo regular preventive examination, and paving the way for an increase in the proportion of early stages of breast cancer detected among the population of Czech women. The upper age limit was later cancelled: breast cancer screening is now free of charge (i.e. it is reimbursed from the public health insurance) for all Czech women aged 45 years and above.

A nationwide, organised and controlled breast cancer screening programme is available in the Czech Republic, and all Czech women aged over 45 are encouraged to participate in it.

Women with hereditary predisposition to breast cancer can undergo preventive examinations even before reaching the age of 45. Such prevention measures are tailored to individual women who have had breast cancer in their families.