Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

The first online oncology commission in Bulgarian gives advice to women with breast cancer

Photo: breasthelp.me

One out of eight women would have breast cancer at some point in life, according to an international study. Therefore, the sooner the disease is detected, the greater the chance for successful treatment. However, the situation in terms of prevention and early diagnosis in Bulgaria is not looking good. It turns out that just 12% of Bulgarian women with breast cancer were diagnosed in the initial stage of the disease. In Europe, this percentage is 27. Therefore, the breast cancer diagnosis in this country sounds almost like a verdict. This is what motivated the head of the Department of General Surgery of the "Lozenets" University Hospital, Dr. Vania Mitova, to create the first Bulgarian online application designed for both healthy people and breast cancer patients.

Dr. Mitova

"The BreastHelp application is the first in Bulgaria, which unites the efforts of many people and it is related to prevention, screening and follow-up of already diagnosed breast cancer patients. Keeping in mind the fact that most women are not even informed about the risks of this disease, we decided to make this mobile application. It is free, it can be installed on any kind of electronic device, regardless of whether it is a tablet, phone, computer, etc.", this is how Dr. Vanya Mitova explained the necessity of creating the application on the air of BNR-Blagoevgrad.

Every year, about 4,000 Bulgarian women are diagnosed with breast cancer, but it is assumed that the number of women with this disease exceeds 30,000.

"Fighting against this disease on a daily basis, I can say that we have seen cases when the cancer has reached the final stage of development before the patient even received medical attention. At the same time, we all know that prevention in Bulgaria is not something that is a priority in general - neither for the population, nor for the state and those in power, so the only thing left for us is to look for all possible alternative ways to encourage people to take more care of their health," Dr. Vania Mitova says.


Usually, the patient has access to an oncology commission in a relevant medical institution. But the idea of BreastHelp is to also provide patients with online access to a multidisciplinary team that would look into their case individually and make a unanimous decision which type of treatment would be most appropriate. The members of the online commission are leading experts in the field of oncology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine. "All over the world, patients consult such multidisciplinary commissions before the start of their treatment, but this does not happen in our country," Dr. Vania Mitova says and adds:

"In Bulgaria, in 95% of the cases, preoperative consultations with oncology commissions are not carried out. In nearly 70% of hospitals, the decisions are the result of discussions between two people – the oncologist, who works in the respective medical institution as a consultant, and the attending physician, who presents the clinical case. Often, oncology commissions in non-specialized oncology hospitals consist of just a small number of specialists. As a result of all this, the patient practically goes through a perfunctory consultation with oncology commission," Dr. Vania Mitova says.


Within two days, through the BreastHelp app, the patient receives the opinion of the online commission. Once again, telemedicine proves its advantages as waiting in front of the offices of various specialists and reserving an appointment for an examination months in advance can be fatal because of the development of the disease.

See also:

Compiled by: Veneta Nikolova /based on an interview by Vanya Bahchivanova from BNR-Blagoevgrad/

English: Al. Markov

Photos: breasthelp.me, lozenetz-hospital.bg




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

 Radoslava Nedyalkova

Radoslava Nedyalkova: Folklore groups are at the heart of Bulgarian communities around the world

"You realize what your homeland is when you lose it. When you're at home, you turn on the radio, hear folk music, speak Bulgarian, and go to the theater where you also hear Bulgarian speech. It is only when you lose all that that you realize how much..

published on 10/21/24 2:56 PM
Marcelo Tarapow

Rear Admiral Marcelo Tarapow: Bulgaria and Argentina develop fruitful joint activities in Antarctica

The first Bulgarian research expedition to Antarctica took place in the spring of 1988, marking the beginning of a series of scientific studies by local researchers on the icy continent. ''These are the most extreme conditions in which a person can be..

published on 10/21/24 11:14 AM

"Dinosaur Party for Kids" raises funds for the Tortoise Rescue Center in the village of Banya

A children's show dedicated to dinosaurs will be held in support of the Tortoise Rescue Center in the village of Banya, near the protected Black Sea area of Irakli. The dress code for the party is turtle-themed. Every child can participate..

published on 10/20/24 9:05 AM