RSU Institute of Oncology Receives Donation from Lindex for Breast Cancer Research

For many years, the international fashion company Lindex has been involved in the Pink Ribbon campaign, giving the company's customers and employees opportunity to support breast cancer research. The Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Institute of Oncology is Lindex Latvia's partner in breast cancer research. The institute has more than 20 years of experience in genetically inherited breast cancer research. This year, the RSU Institute of Oncology will receive a donation of 23,417 EUR from the Pink Ribbon Campaign that is to be used for research on genetic risk factors for breast cancer.

In total, the campaign has raised a record amount of 1.66 million EUR in all the markets in which Lindex operates. This money will go towards breast cancer research in different countries. As part of the campaign, Lindex donated 10% of all bra sales in its markets in October and encouraged its customers to buy a pink ribbon and round up the sum for their purchases in stores. Lindex has been fundraising for breast cancer research since 2003 and together with its customers has donated a total of 19.3 million EUR over the years.

At least 7% of breast cancer patients inherit breast cancer. Genetic testing could help detect women at high risk of breast cancer at an early stage. This would significantly improve the diagnosis of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer in Latvia, leading to better treatment outcomes.

'Around 40 years have passed since the introduction of mammography screenings and new technologies, like genetic tests, have been developed. This opens up an opportunity to complement existing mammography screenings and launch a fundamentally new breast and ovarian cancer risk screening. This would mean that all women could get a specific genetic test at the age of 25, regardless of their family history of cancer.

However, in order to recommend this approach to healthcare administrators, it is necessary to carry out a study, a pilot project, to analyse the organisational, medical, and psychological aspects of genetic screening,'

explains Arvīds Irmejs, oncologist and breast surgeon at Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital and senior researcher at the RSU Institute of Oncology.

Although population genetic screening has been discussed among professionals for some time, there are only a few studies or pilot projects of this kind. Latvia could be one of the first to introduce and offer such an innovative solution. The RSU Institute of Oncology will collaborate with Norwegian experts in the field from Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen to analyse psychological issues.