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For their work on the systematic early detection of breast cancer through mammography screening, Prof. Dr. Walter Heindel and Prof. Dr. Stefanie Weigel have received the Hufeland Foundation's award of 20,000 euros. In the presence of numerous top representatives of the German medical profession, the prestigious prize was awarded on October 12th in Cologne.
This year the prestigious Hufeland Prize went to Prof. Dr. Walter Heindel and Prof. Dr. Stefanie Weigel. The 20,000 euro award from the Hufeland Foundation, which recognizes outstanding achievements in preventive medicine, was given to the two researchers for their work on optimizing mammography, more specifically for their "Systematic Screening for Early Breast Cancer Detection: Comparison of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis [DBT] plus Synthetic 2D Mammography with Digital 2D Mammography in the Randomized Controlled Diagnostic Superiority Trial ToSyMa."
Breast cancer is the most common tumor disease not only in Germany, but now worldwide. "Systematic early breast cancer detection through mammography screening, along with new treatment options, forms an important pillar in the fight against breast cancer," emphasized Dr. Klaus Reinhardt, President of the German Medical Association, in his speech at the award ceremony. In the ToSyMa study - currently the world's largest research project in this field - the interdisciplinary working group led by Walter Heindel and Stefanie Weigel at the University of Münster and the Department of Radiology at the University Hospital examined almost 100,000 women to determine whether a further development of mammography can detect breast cancer significantly more frequently than the standard procedure. The German Research Foundation is funding this project with 3.8 million euros until 2025. Although the evaluation is still ongoing, the scientific results so far - which are very promising - have already been awarded the Hufeland Prize.
Research background
The combination of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and so-called synthetic 2-D mammograms was compared with the previous screening standard, digital mammography. The results of the ToSyMa study phase 1 were published by the research group in "The Lancet Oncology" in 2022. The findings published therein confirm the assumption that breast cancer is detected significantly more frequently with the advanced mammography technique based on the view of slices than with standard mammography (+ 48 %). The reason: the innovative imaging approach reduces the likelihood of overlapping tissue structures obscuring radiological signs of malignancy. For the first time, this superiority has been demonstrated in a prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT).
Further analyses show that not only were more tumors detected, but that the majority were invasive early findings. A first ToSyMa subanalysis - published in the journal "Radiology" - focused on breast cancer diagnosis as a function of breast density. It characterizes the structure of the female breast as a function of the proportions of glandular, connective and fatty tissue. As a result, the detection rate of invasive breast cancer diagnoses using tomosynthesis differs, particularly in the case of extremely dense mammary gland tissue, i.e., a low percentage of fat. "This result suggests that mammography screening with digital breast tomosynthesis significantly reduces radiological summation effects and superposition effects - thus counteracting the previous limitations of digital mammography," says Stefanie Weigel.
The positive effect of early breast cancer detection through digital mammography screening on reducing breast cancer-specific mortality is already evident for Germany. "Further development of mammography technology could further strengthen the effectiveness of the screening program, especially for women with dense breast tissue," concludes Walter Heindel.
"We are very pleased to be able to award such a successful project on early breast cancer detection this year and thus support an important step in the fight against breast cancer," said Timmy Klebb, Chairman of the Board of Deutsche Ärzteversicherung, at the presentation of the Hufeland Award. The award, which is one of the most important German medical prizes, has been presented annually since 1960 to physicians for pioneering achievements and outstanding research results in preventive medicine. The benefactor is Deutsche Ärzteversicherung; sponsors are the German Medical Association, the German Dental Association and the German Association for Prevention and Health.
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Weigel
Klinik für Radiologie (Universitätsklinikum Münster)
Medizinische Fakultät (Universität Münster)
Telefon: +49 251834 56 52
E-Mail: weigels@uni-muenster.de
Prof. Dr. Walter Heindel
Klinik für Radiologie (Universitätsklinikum Münster)
Medizinische Fakultät (Universität Münster)
Telefon: +49 251 83 47301
E-Mail: heindel@uni-muenster.de
https://web.ukm.de/index.php?id=11341 ToSyMa study at the University of Münster (in German)
https://www.ukm.de/kliniken/radiologie Klinik für Radiologie des Universitätsklinikums Münster (in German)
The University Rector Prof. Dr. Johannes Wessels (l.) traveled to Cologne especially to congratulate ...
M. Thürbach
M. Thürbach
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