Overview

• Argentina’s Province of Buenos Aires set 40 as the recommended age for a first mammogram with annual screening through 75, a shift backed by national oncology societies and supported by 12 newly installed units for a total of 187 public mammography machines.
• Spain faces a screening scandal in Andalusia after more than two hundred women were not alerted to potentially dangerous results for up to two years, an error that led to the regional health minister’s resignation and raised concerns about program oversight.
• Clinicians reiterate that mammography remains the primary tool for early detection from around age 40, with breast ultrasound used as a complementary test—especially for dense tissue or to evaluate findings—and not as a replacement.
• Recent figures highlight growing burden and late diagnosis: Mexico reports 8,034 deaths in 2023 and 23,790 new cases in 2022 with over 70% detected at advanced stages, while Peru records a roughly 60% rise in cases over the past decade to more than 8,000 diagnoses annually.
• Patient advocacy and innovation efforts expand, with Spain’s AECC offering free psychosocial and support services and experts and industry in Latin America promoting cancer registries, AI-driven risk assessment, and biomarker-guided therapies to personalize care.