Breast cancer screening takes a step forward in Latvia

Since October, the Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS) has started genetic examinations for the personalized treatment of breast cancer, using state money.

The latest generation technology allows accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of patients with aggressive cancer tumors, reducing the side effects of chemotherapy drugs and treatment complications. The hospital expects that such testing would be necessary for more than 400 patients per year.

More than a meter high, an almost completely closed device hums. In it, through the dark blue glass, you can see many small boxes and things like plastic bottles. Every now and then, a robot appears from the depths of the machine to perform some actions.

"These are staining machines. So, specific staining of the tissue section obtained from the patient in order to detect pathological changes in these tissues, and these machines simply ensure high-quality and uniform staining of the preparations," says Ģirts Šķenders, Head of the Sequencing Department of the RAKUS Laboratory Service.

He points out that with the help of this equipment, a specific type of breast cancer can be determined. After that, the doctor chooses the optimal treatment and thinks about further examinations.

Breast cancer is the most common malignant disease among women. Every year in Latvia, a thousand women get sick with it, says the hospital's oncologist, chemotherapist and associate professor of the University of Latvia, Alinta Hegmane.

"Of the inherited breast cancers, it is more often associated with mutations specifically in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. If we know that [a patient] has inherited this mutation, it means that she has an increased risk of developing cancer in the other breast or ovary. And that means , if we know that, we plan a different surgical treatment tactic."

From October, specific therapy paid for by the state is available to women with mutations of specific genes. Hegmane points out that this is an opportunity to identify all women for whom this therapy would be suitable. If a woman is known to have a mutation, this means that her family members are also at risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

"This gives us the opportunity to test already targeted family members. If we find that these people have the mutation, even though they are completely healthy, we can offer a high-risk screening process or preventive surgeries to prevent cancer from developing," says Hegmane.

The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are present in every person, but pathological mutations occur in 3-4% of breast cancer patients.