Studies on the methods of diagnosis and biomarkersused in early detection of breast cancer in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An overview

Breast cancer (BC) affects women of all socioeconomic levels in both developed and developing countries. The global annual mortality is expected to be close to 500,000 women. The most traditional and time again used symptoms and diagnostic methods do not fully accommodate the intricacies that warrant early detection of BC. If detected early, BC is more easily treated and often curable, hence; world-wide efforts have been focused in this direction and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is not lagging behind. The present review is an attempt to project the different procedures undertaken for early detection and diagnosis of BC as revealed by papers published in peer reviewed English language articles cited in Pub Med, Pub Med Central, Science Direct, Up-to-date, Med Line, Comprehensive data bases, Cochrane library and the internet (Google, Yahoo). The methods used in the diagnosis and detection of BC in the KSA include mammography, ultrasound, biopsy (fine needle aspiration and surgical biopsy), computerized tomography, positron emission tomography (PET), histopathology, cytology and sentinel lymph node biopsy, in addition to advanced research on molecular markers. Although there has been considerable improvement in researches on biomarkers, there is still a lot to be done in comparison with global achievements. The review will also discuss the lacunae in diagnostic endeavors, which will go a long way to abridge the rampant mortality due to BC.