City project

Timely and quality cancer diagnostics

Ensuring timely delivery of quality breast cancer diagnostic services.

City

Tbilisi, Georgia

Project lead

Ioseb Abesadze

Areas of action

The challenge

Breast cancer diagnostic pathways in Tbilisi are fragmented, resulting in delays, inconsistent results, and poor coordination of services.
Screening programmes are frequently used as entry points for diagnosis, rather than as a tool for early detection, leading to incomplete diagnostic workups and delays in confirming a definitive diagnosis.
Many essential diagnostic procedures require out-of-pocket expenses, creating financial barriers and inequitable access to timely diagnosis.
The absence of standardised clinical breast assessment protocols and diagnostics contributes to variability in diagnostic quality and delays in treatment decision-making.
Limited patient tracking and follow-up systems make it difficult to monitor diagnostic timelines, continuity of care, and outcomes.
These systemic challenges disproportionately affect women and undermine the timeliness, accuracy, and equity of breast cancer diagnosis in Tbilisi.

The goal

To ensure timely and accurate breast cancer diagnosis.
To improve patient outcomes and survival rates through streamlined, high-quality and diagnostic pathways.

The How

Alignment with the WHO’s Global Breast Cancer Initiative (GBCI) Pillar II – Timely Diagnosis – which focuses on ensuring diagnosis confirmation within 60 days of a patient’s first clinical presentation.
Streamlining coordination and referral across breast cancer diagnostic services to reduce delays and fragmentation.
Implementing standardised clinical breast assessment protocols diagnostic reporting templates across healthcare facilities.
Strengthening quality assurance processes to improve consistency and accuracy of diagnosis.
Developing patient tracking, case management, and data systems to monitor diagnostic timelines, follow-up, and outcomes.
Applying a gender–responsive approach informed by the Tbilisi City Gender Consultation as part of C/Can’s Cities Taking Action for Gender Equity in Cancer Care (2024-2030) initiative.

Outputs

Streamline the breast cancer diagnostic pathway by defining coordination and referral mechanisms to ensure timely and efficient diagnostic processes
Standardised clinical breast assessment (CBA) for consistent and high-quality diagnosis.
Strengthened Quality Assurance and Standardization in Breast Cancer Diagnosis.
Develop and implement patient tracking and data systems for timely and quality breast cancer diagnosis.

Team

Project Lead

Ioseb Abesadze, Palliative care specialist, Clinical Oncology Center

Project Team

Irakli Sikharulidze, Breast Surgeon, Institute of Clinical Oncology
Tamar Charkviani, Radiologist, National Screening Center
Amiran Matitashvili, Clinical oncologist, Mardaleishvili Medical Center
Nia Sharikadze, Clinical oncologist, Mardaleishvili Medical Center
Mariam Kutateladze, Radiologist, Todua Clinic
Armaz Mariamidze, Pathologist, Tbilisi Central Hospital
Maia Kereselidze, Head of Medical Statistics Department, National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC)
Konstantin Kazanjan, Medical Statistics Department, National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC)
Nino Chkhaberidze, Medical Statistics Department, National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC)
Natalia Jankarashvili, Radiation oncologist, Todua clinic

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