Medicare rebate MUST cover breast MRIs for ALL high risk indications ascertained by breast cancer surgeons.
Medicare rebate MUST cover breast MRIs for ALL high risk indications ascertained by breast cancer surgeons.
The issue
Australian women and men with breast cancer are being denied a Medicare rebate for MRI scans which others with football injuries, headaches and back pain receive.
Professor Christobel Saunders one of several breast surgeons trying to obtain a Medicare rebate for MRIs, says around one in 10 women have tumours that can’t be properly seen on mammograms or ultrasound. She said "About 10 per cent of women require it and it helps us plan surgery and determine whether we need to do a lumpectomy or a mastectomy."
Breast MRI's have been used for 20 years in Australia, they are the most efficient way of telling the full size of the tumour.
In January of 2013, at the age of 37 and with two young children, I was diagnosed with a grade three breast cancer with nodal involvement. After a barrage of tests including an ultrasound, mammogram, X-ray, CT-scan, several core biopsies, a lumpectomy with clear margins, a sentinel node biopsy, my breast was found to be riddled with cancer not seen on previous imaging. Twelve days later, I went back to theatre for a nipple-sparing subcutaneous mastectomy with immediate reconstruction with a tissue expander.
The pathology showed I actually needed radiotherapy despite already having my breast removed and reconstruction commenced. What followed was radiotherapy to my tissue expander which is now contracting from radiation damage. I had a second prophylactic mastectomy, and am still waiting on a public waiting list for reconstruction to be corrected and completed three years later.
At the end of all this treatment, my breast surgeon told me I absolutely SHOULD have had a breast MRI in the beginning. It was never offered to me because of the cost and wait time in my public hospital. Had I known, I would have paid for it privately, but there are many who can't.
In certain high-risk cases, a breast MRI before surgical intervention would simplify some of the complex treatment decisions breast surgeons and patients face and very likely reduce the amount of surgical intervention required. This would provide huge cost savings to Medicare alone.
The government’s Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) has rejected 6 out of 8 indications for breast MRIs. This is not good enough when MRIs are rebated for sports injuries, back pain, and headaches. Australian breast cancer patients deserve better.
Please sign. Patients should be guided through informed choice. Can they keep their breasts or can't they?
Sources
https://www.bcna.org.au/about-us/advocacy/submissions-and-reviews/submission-for-mri-rebates/
The issue
Australian women and men with breast cancer are being denied a Medicare rebate for MRI scans which others with football injuries, headaches and back pain receive.
Professor Christobel Saunders one of several breast surgeons trying to obtain a Medicare rebate for MRIs, says around one in 10 women have tumours that can’t be properly seen on mammograms or ultrasound. She said "About 10 per cent of women require it and it helps us plan surgery and determine whether we need to do a lumpectomy or a mastectomy."
Breast MRI's have been used for 20 years in Australia, they are the most efficient way of telling the full size of the tumour.
In January of 2013, at the age of 37 and with two young children, I was diagnosed with a grade three breast cancer with nodal involvement. After a barrage of tests including an ultrasound, mammogram, X-ray, CT-scan, several core biopsies, a lumpectomy with clear margins, a sentinel node biopsy, my breast was found to be riddled with cancer not seen on previous imaging. Twelve days later, I went back to theatre for a nipple-sparing subcutaneous mastectomy with immediate reconstruction with a tissue expander.
The pathology showed I actually needed radiotherapy despite already having my breast removed and reconstruction commenced. What followed was radiotherapy to my tissue expander which is now contracting from radiation damage. I had a second prophylactic mastectomy, and am still waiting on a public waiting list for reconstruction to be corrected and completed three years later.
At the end of all this treatment, my breast surgeon told me I absolutely SHOULD have had a breast MRI in the beginning. It was never offered to me because of the cost and wait time in my public hospital. Had I known, I would have paid for it privately, but there are many who can't.
In certain high-risk cases, a breast MRI before surgical intervention would simplify some of the complex treatment decisions breast surgeons and patients face and very likely reduce the amount of surgical intervention required. This would provide huge cost savings to Medicare alone.
The government’s Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) has rejected 6 out of 8 indications for breast MRIs. This is not good enough when MRIs are rebated for sports injuries, back pain, and headaches. Australian breast cancer patients deserve better.
Please sign. Patients should be guided through informed choice. Can they keep their breasts or can't they?
Sources
https://www.bcna.org.au/about-us/advocacy/submissions-and-reviews/submission-for-mri-rebates/
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Petition created on 26 December 2015