Mississauga, ON, October 1, 2022 – October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a month devoted to raising awareness about the impact of breast cancer and providing education on the importance of early detection. This year, in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Bayer in Canada has launched myradiologyscan.ca – a website for educating patients about diagnostic imaging. In addition to information for patients about what to expect when going for a CT or MRI exam, the website includes a special focus on breast cancer. Within this website, patients will find information about breast cancer risk factors and the different breast cancer screening methods that are available.

One of the important breast cancer risk factors that the website discusses is dense breast tissue. Women with dense breasts have a higher risk of developing breast cancer.1 Dense breast tissue also makes it harder to spot tumors on a mammogram.2 It is estimated that roughly half of all women over 40 who get mammograms are found to have dense breasts.2 ^,3  These women can benefit from supplemental screening with a different imaging technique that is more sensitive for detecting cancer within dense breast tissue. The most sensitive of these supplemental screening techniques is contrast-enhanced MRI.4 To put the difference in sensitivities between these techniques into perspective, if 1000 women in the general population are screened with mammography, then approximately 2-7 of those women will be found to have breast cancer.5 ^,6  If the women in that population with no cancer detected by mammography go on for supplemental screening with MRI, then an additional 10 or more of those women will be found to have breast cancer that was missed by the mammogram.7 ^,8 ^,9 ^,10

“Bayer is proud to launch this new resource to provide more information on the importance of understanding individual risk factors which can lead to breast cancer and the screening options available to help drive better patient-doctor conversations and patient outcomes,” says Gerald Orban, Country Head, Canada (Radiology).

The right screening options for patients, based on their individual needs, can help drive early detection and better treatment outcomes. Through Breast Cancer Awareness Month and beyond, Bayer is proud to be partnering with breast cancer groups around the world to drive awareness and early detection.

To learn more about breast cancer, risk factors, and screening options, visit https://www.myradiologyscan.ca/. 

About Radiology at Bayer
Everyone deserves clear answers about their health, starting with an early and accurate diagnosis. For over 125 years, Bayer has been researching and developing innovative medications and therapeutic approaches and chemicals that help make a difference to people’s lives. Building on this extensive heritage in healthcare, we know that medical imaging plays a critical role in choosing the right treatment. Bayer is committed to providing excellence, from innovative products to high-quality services. The portfolio includes contrast media for computed tomography (CT), X-Ray, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), devices for their precise administration, informatics solutions to support efficient and optimal patient care, as well as acknowledged educational programs. In addition, Bayer is strongly committed to research and development and leverages artificial intelligence, thus further driving innovation in medical imaging. Each of these offerings helps radiologists in their mission to deliver answers and a clear direction – from diagnosis to care.
 

About Bayer 
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to drive sustainable development and generate a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2021, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 44.1 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 5.3 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.ca. 

Bayer Inc.
Communications Department
mediacanada@bayer.com
 

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

• 1Canadian Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Statistics. https://cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-types/breast/statistics. Accessed September 19, 2022.
• 2 a b What Are the Risk Factors for Breast Cancer? https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/basic_info/risk_factors.htm, Accessed August 2021.
• 3Dense Breasts: Answers to Commonly Asked Questions. https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/breast-changes/dense-breasts, Accessed August 2021
• 4Breast Cancer Early Detection and Diagnosis. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/breast-cancer/screening-tests-and-early-detection, Accessed March 2021
• 5Lee CS, Sengupta D, Bhargavan-Chatfield M, Sickles EA, Burnside ES, Zuley ML. Association of patient age with outcomes of current-era, large-scale screening mammography: Analysis of data from the national mammography database. JAMA oncology 2017; 3:1134-1136
• 6Lehman CD, Arao RF, Sprague BL, et al. National performance benchmarks for modern screening digital mammography: update from the breast cancer surveillance consortium. Radiology 2017;283(1):49-58
• 7Berg WA, Vourtsis A. Screening breast ultrasound using hand-held or automated technique in women with dense breasts. Journal of Breast Imaging 2019; 1:283-296
• 8Weigert JM. The Connecticut Experiment; The Third Installment: 4 Years of Screening Women with Dense Breasts with Bilateral Ultrasound. Breast J 2017; 23:34-39
• 9Berg WA, Zhang Z, Lehrer D, et al. Detection of breast cancer with addition of annual screening ultrasound or a single screening MRI to mammography in women with elevated breast cancer risk. JAMA 2012; 307:1394-1404
• 10Kuhl CK. The changing world of breast cancer. Investigative Radiology 2015; 50(9):615-628