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©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Aug 10, 2014; 5(3): 465-477
Published online Aug 10, 2014. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v5.i3.465
Published online Aug 10, 2014. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v5.i3.465
Challenges to the early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in developing countries
Karla Unger-Saldaña, Economy Division, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), 01210 Mexico City, México
Author contributions: Unger-Saldaña K contributed to this work.
Correspondence to: Karla Unger-Saldaña, MD, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Economy Division, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Carretera México-Toluca 3655 Col. Lomas de Santa Fe, 01210 Mexico City, México. karlaunger@gmail.com
Telephone: +52-55-57279800 Fax: +52-55-57279800
Received: January 3, 2014
Revised: February 23, 2014
Accepted: May 31, 2014
Published online: August 10, 2014
Revised: February 23, 2014
Accepted: May 31, 2014
Published online: August 10, 2014
Core Tip
Core tip: This review assembles the available data on breast cancer clinical stage for 10 high-income and 13 low-income countries and the time intervals from symptom discovery to cancer diagnosis and treatment for 33 countries. Most breast cancer patients in low-income countries suffer very long delays and are diagnosed in advanced stages. The scant available evidence for low and middle-income countries suggests that access barriers and quality deficiencies in cancer care are determinants of these delays.