October every year is dedicated to breast cancer awareness worldwide. It is also a month marked for creating awareness about Ultrasound. Under the leadership of the President of the Ghana Society of Radiographers (GSR), Mr. Dennis Amartey Ahia, the National Executive Council (NEC) has dedicated the month of October every year to creating awareness of breast care, breast cancer, and the use of medical ultrasound. Consequently, it is dubbed “The GSR Pink October/Ultrasound Awareness Month” by the organizing team. In short, it is known as “THE GSR PINK OCTOBER” with the corresponding year added to the end.
“PINK OCTOBER 2023” was the second edition. The premier edition took place last year, October 2022. It is the commitment of leadership to ensure its sustainability.
This year’s edition had very educative presentations from four specialist radiographers regarding breast radiography and education. All four virtual presentations were held on Wednesday evenings from 18:30 – 19:30 GMT each week in October 2023.
Ms. Letitia Adamah-Miles opened the series with a very insightful, educative, entertaining, and engaging presentation on mammography. Throughout her presentation, she kept the audience engaged and anticipating the next slide. Letitia showed dexterity in presentation and practical competence in mammography. She started by briefly taking participants through the gross anatomy of the breast and then discussed types of breast cancer.
Ms. Adamah-Miles highlighted the causes of breast cancer and elaborated on the UK’s NHS Breast Screening program and quality assurance (quality control) in mammography. The core of her presentation then focused on various mammography techniques and emerging trends, as well as communication with patients. She concluded by showing the audience the mammographic appearance of some selected pathologies. The participants then followed up with questions, which Letitia happily answered. There were 90 individual devices/participants noted at the peak of the call, marking the highest attendance of PINK OCTOBER 2023.
The Eklund Technique was of particular interest to the audience. Ms. Letitia Adamah-Miles is an experienced radiographer. Currently, she is the Deputy Education Manager at the St. George’s National Breast Education Centre. Also, she is a Professional and Clinical Advisor – Screening Quality Assurance Service [London] NHS England.
Mammography Pdf download
The modality of interest on the second Wednesday was Ultrasound. This lecture was delivered by another experienced sonographer, Mr. Philip Eghan. The audience was taken through an interesting and informative presentation on the topic: Introduction to Axillary Staging of Breast Cancer.
Mr. Eghan started by giving a brief overview of axillary staging of breast cancer before highlighting the modes of axillary lymph node involvement in breast cancer. The main topics discussed were axillary lymph node anatomy and pathology with corresponding ultrasound images. It was a succinct and interesting presentation. At the peak of the call, 81 participants/devices were present.
Mr. Eghan is a sonographer at the University of Ghana Medical Centre (UGMC) and is pursuing MPhil Medical Imaging.
Ultrasound Pdf download
On the 3rd Wednesday of October 2023, Rev. David Atawone took members of GSR through Breast MRI. David gave an introduction to the MRI environment concerning breast imaging. He then emphasized the importance of good patient preparation for breast MRI and showed samples of questionnaires for patient preparation. Rev. Atawone concluded by shedding more light on selected sequences and their images, as well as their significance in demonstrating breast pathologies. 47 participants/devices were noted at the peak of the call. Rev. David Atawone is the Head of Radiographers (Radiology Manager) at the International Maritime Hospital, Tema. He has years of experience in Breast MRI.
MRI Pdf download
Mr. Michael Addo gave the final lecture the following Wednesday evening. He is a therapeutic radiographer of many years. His presentation focused on explaining what breast cancer is and the contribution of the radiation therapist to its management. He explained some biological processes of breast cancer and then took participants through the technical roles of the radiation therapist in managing it. Michael also briefly spoke about the oncology team. His presentation also had a significant contribution by way of comments from the audience, including Prof. Kofi Adesi Kyei.
At the peak of the call, there were 50 participants/devices. Mr. Michael Addo is currently a lead Senior Therapeutic Radiographer at the National Radiotherapy, Oncology, and Nuclear Medicine Centre at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra.
Please find below all the resource materials.
Radiotherapy Pdf download
PINK OCTOBER 2024 shall include nuclear medicine making it 5 sessions.
Let’s meet again on every Wednesday evening in October 2024. Thank you.
Coordinator:
Innocent Aforlabi-Logoh
Public Relations Officer (PRO) – GSR
October 2023
Acknowledgement:
1.Mr. Dennis Amartey Ahia (GSR President) for his unwavering commitment for the start and sustainability of the initiative.
2.All the presenters for accepting to do the presentation
3.Ms. Patience Addo for providing and technically supporting the virtual platform used, Zoom.
4.All Elected Executives and National Executive Committee members.
5.GSR Vice President, Mr. Frank Ofori Mintah
6.All the modality Reps for facilitating the advertisement and selection of presenters.
Modality Representatives: Mrs. Pearl Lawson Katu (Radiation Therapy), Rev. Reese Ntiforo (Diagnostic), Mr. Benedict Agyei (ultrasound).