BREAST-CANCER SCREENING - STATE-OF-THE-ART

Carcinoma of the breast is the most frequent cause of death in women a ged between approximately 38 and 50 years. At present, 1 out of 14 wom en in Germany and 1 out of 9 in America suffer from breast cancer with in a life time. To date, modern methods of treatment and hormone thera py have only been able to increase long-term survival by about 12%. Tr ials have shown that early diagnosis alone has been able to increase s urvival from 20% to 50%. Early diagnosis proved to be most effective w hen clinical examination plus mammography in two planes was carried ou t annually. An increase in survival has been achieved in post-menopaus al women as a result of screening. 22 percent of breast cancers were d etected at a curable in situ stage by means of screening. Even after a limited screening program of 4 examination cycles the increase in sur vival rate over 15-20 years was significant.