Introduction. Incidence of breast cancer (BC) in 2020 is about 2.26 million new cases. It is the first common cancer accounting for 11.7 of all cancer worldwide. Disease complications and the mortality rate of breast cancer are highly dependent on the early diagnosis. Therefore, novel human breast-imaging techniques play an important role in minimizing the breast cancer morbidity and mortality rate. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a noninvasive technique to image the breast using the electrical impedance behavior of the body tissues. Objectives. The aims of this manuscript are as follows: (1) a comprehensive investigation of the accuracy of EIT for breast cancer diagnosis through searching pieces of evidence in the valid databases and (2) meta-analyses of the results. Methods. The systematic search was performed in the electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Science Direct, ProQuest, Scopus, and Google Scholar without time and language limitation until January 2021. Search terms were EIT and Breast Cancer with their synonyms. Relevant studies were included based on PRISMA and study objectives. Quality of studies and risk of bias were performed by QUADAS-2 tools. Then, relevant data were extracted in Excel form. The hierarchical/bivariate meta-analysis was performed with metandi package for the ROC plot of sensitivity and specificity. Forest plot of the Accuracy index and double arcsine transformations was applied to stabilize the variance. The heterogeneity of the studies was evaluated by the forest plots, χ2 test (assuming a significance at the a-level of 10), and the I² statistic for the Accuracy index. Results. A total of 4027 articles were found. Finally, 12 of which met our criteria. Overall, these articles included studies of 5487 breast cancer patients. EIT had an overall pooled sensitivity and specificity of 75.88 (95 CI, 61.92 to 85.89) and 82.04 (95 CI, 69.72 to 90.06), respectively. The pooled diagnostic odds ratio was 14.37 (95 CI, 6.22 to 33.20), and the pooled effect of accuracy was 0.79 with 95 CI (0.73, 0.83). Conclusions. This study showed that EIT can be used as a useful method alongside mammography. EIT sensitivity could not be compared with the sensitivity of MRI, but in terms of specificity, it can be considered as a new method that probably can get more attention. Furthermore, large-scale studies will be needed to support the evidence.

Introduction: Lymphedema is one of the complications of breast cancer treatment. It has no cure yet and can affect the quality of life. This study aimed to identify and investigate informational needs, preferred delivery methods, and time of receiving information about lymphedema for these patients. Methods: One hundred participants were recruited through Lymphedema Clinic in Motamed Cancer Institute in Tehran, Iran, through convenience sampling and were asked to complete a self-administered survey. Data collection took place on all opening days between October 2018 and mid-March 2019. Results: Most of the participants were above 40 years, have a diploma, homemaker, and the average income of most of the participants (57.2%) was low. The importance of having lymphedema information was very high for them. Most of them wanted detailed information at diagnosis of breast cancer. The preferred information of delivery methods were private sessions and social networks. Conclusions: Patients with breast cancer who have lymphedema have high needs as regards concise lymphedema information. Private sessions with physicians and social networks can provide detailed information for them.

Purpose: The informational needs of patients with Breast Cancer‐Related Lymphedema (BCRL) have not been sufficiently addressed in the scientific literature. Moreover, the only existing questionnaire in this field contains many items. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a short‐form version of this questionnaire.Methods: The questionnaire items were extracted from the Lymphoedema Needs Questionnaire‐Breast Cancer (LNQ‐BC). Demographic variables and clinical characteristics were considered separately. Out of 62 items, 24 were selected, and 2 additional questions were included based on feedback from 10 experts. 100 participants with BCRL completed the short‐form questionnaire. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed using principal components extraction and varimax rotation, and Cronbach's alpha was calculated for each dimension.Results: After evaluating the content validity, the instrument's construct validity with 26 items was conducted using EFA. The KMO (Kaiser‐Meyer‐Olkin) value was equal to 0.879 and Bartlett's sphericity test was significant (p‐value < 0.001), indicating the data's adequacy and appropriateness to perform EFA. Five extracted dimensions were named: “Lymphedema information needs” (5 items), “Informational support, peers” (5 items), “Access to a lymphedema care specialist” (5 items), “Physical and daily activities” (7 items) and “Financial issues and compression garments” (4 items). The level of needs in this study in all dimensions was high (more than 77%).Conclusions: The high factor loadings and the total explained variance of 78.152% support the construct validity of the short questionnaire. Although some items exhibited cross‐loadings, the majority loaded strongly on a single factor, indicating good discriminant validity. Providing services according to the needs of patients can be prioritized. Healthcare providers, insurers, and individuals should be better informed about lymphedema, its associated costs, and the importance of implementing appropriate management programs.