Black women and breast cancer: shortcomings in care

(Christina Frangou/ General Surgery News) — Black women have more aggressive breast cancer at a young age than other women, and they’re more likely to die at a young age from these cancers. But they don’t have the same opportunities for screening, genetic testing, treatment and clinical trial participation, experts in oncology reported during a panel session at the 2021 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons.

The speakers called on all health care providers involved in women’s cancer to improve care for Black women and their families.

“African American women are being deprived of maximum utilization of technologies [that can improve breast cancer outcomes],” said Lisa Newman, MD, MPH, the director of the breast program for the Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Network, in New York City, during a press briefing at the Clinical Congress. (…)