THE NATIONAL CANCER DATA-BASE REPORT ON BREAST-CANCER

Background. Previous National Cancer Data Base data have been used to examine time trends in stage of disease and treatment patterns for bre ast cancer. The most current (1990) data are described here. Methods. Two calls for data have yielded a total of 143,051 breast cancer cases for 1985, 1988, and 1990 from hospital cancer registries across the U nited States. Results. The percentage of in situ cancers increased bet ween 1985 and 1988 but was essentially constant between 1988 and 1990. The use of breast-conserving partial mastectomy across the country in creased between 1988 and 1990. Some interesting regional differences a ppeared in the use of multimodality treatment.Conclusions. These data suggest a plateau in the use of mammographic screening.