Training of non-radiologist clinicians (health workers and physicians) in the use of portable breast ultrasound to triage women who screen positive on clinical breast examination

Researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in collaboration with colleagues from the Malabar Cancer Care Society, in Kannur (India), and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (India), recently provided a training course for non-radiologist clinicians in the use of an inexpensive, battery-operated portable ultrasound device to triage women after a positive clinical breast examination (CBE). This training course was part of a research project being conducted in India to estimate the accuracy of the portable ultrasound device in correctly differentiating benign breast lesions from malignant ones in women referred for further management after a positive CBE screening test.

The course was a hybrid programme of online learning and on-site practical training. Participants attended livestreamed learning sessions and completed self-paced activities on an online learning platform on 14–27 April 2022. The face-to-face practical sessions took place in India on 2–6 May 2022.

Mammography screening is a complex and resource-intensive programme, which can be challenging to implement in settings where resources are limited. CBE has been recommended as an alternative screening option for low- and middle-income countries. Several studies have shown that CBE can detect tumours at an early stage. However, the high false-positive rate and the low positive predictive value mean that some women undergo unnecessary and expensive further diagnostic procedures and experience negative psychological consequences. There is an urgent need for a more accurate, inexpensive, and reliable triage technology that can be used by general health-care providers. Triage with the portable ultrasound device could protect women who screen positive on CBE from unnecessary exposure to radiation, save them the cost of a mammogram, and reduce the workload of radiologists in low- and middle-income countries.

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