Certify it! Breast Cancer units in Europe

Abstract

The establishment of breast centers in Europe seems to be a logical procedure to improve the prognosis of breast cancer. All analyses have shown that due to the centralization, a certain grade of specialization is achieved and the treatment results are improved. To define a minimum number of patients per center or per physician is still not easy, even 9 years after the publication of the EUSOMA criteria. Perhaps it is more of an intrinsic problem of cut-off values per se, which cannot be scientifically validated in medicine. In different European countries, the need for and structure of Breast Units are viewed differently, therefore we are still far away from a standard treatment and equal opportunity for all breast cancer patients in Europe. Perhaps additional political pressure and money are needed to develop Breast Units in all European countries. Without additional reimbursements from insurance companies, the present efforts to concentrate and centralize diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer are endangered. Despite the limitations described in all articles in the present issue, the establishment of Breast Units in some places in Europe is, in my opinion, a gleam of hope for breast cancer patients. If we manage to reduce the bureaucratic overload and costs, to document less but focus on more important things, and if a real benchmarking can be achieved, then we can talk of real progress in Europe.