Smartphone App to Encourage Early Detection for Breast Cancer
The National Breast Cancer Foundation recently announced the official launch of its new free iPhone app, Early Detection Plan (EDP), now available for download on iTunes for the iPhone and iPod touch.
The EDP app encourages women to become more proactive about their health by scheduling reminders via push notifications to perform routine breast self-exams and schedule clinical breast exams and mammograms.
The app is the first of its kind and can be tailored to each user, taking age and health history into account to determine optimal scheduling for both self- and professional exams. It’s also filled with information about clinical breast exams, mammograms, risk factors, signs and symptoms, and tutorials on how to properly perform a breast self-exam.
When women create and follow an early detection plan, they significantly increase their chances of detecting breast cancer in its early stages. The National Cancer Institute states that when breast cancer is found in its early, localized stage, the five-year survival rate is 98 percent. However, more than 30 percent of women are diagnosed after breast cancer has spread beyond the localized stage.