Abstract
Research to determine the
results of breast cancer screening by clinical examination and mammography and
then to study the efficiency of breast examination by analyzing the differences
between the diagnostic outcome and surgical procedures for breast cancer detected
by screening and that diagnosed and treated at the outpatient clinic was conducted
at the Samsung Cheil Hospital Breast Center.
We performed annual clinical
examination and mammography for 15,608 women who wanted to undergo breast examination
during the 20-month period form March 1995 to October 1996.
For the 15,608
women screened the recall rate for further examination was 10.5%(n=1,632)and the
biopsy rate was 1.07%(n=167).Twenty-four breast cancers were detected,a detection
rate of 0.15%.Only 7 (29%) of women with breast cancers detected by screening
complained of symptoms,6 had masses and one nipple erosion.
Of these
24,22 had mammographic findings suspicious of breast cancer and 2 were negative.
T-stages of the screened group were:Tis,29.2%;T1,54.2%;T2,12.5% and T3,4.2%
and those of the outpatient department (OPD) group were:Tis,4.2%;T1,42.4%;T2,47.1%
and T3,6.3%(p<0.05).Examinations for axillary lymph node metastasis revealed
16(79%) of the screened group and 111 (58%) of the OPD group were negative (P<0.05).The
pathological stages of the screened group were : 0,29.2%; ,37.5%
and  ,33.3%,whereas
those of the OPD group were 0,4.2%;,24.1%;,55%; ,15.7%
and  ,1%(P<0.05).Early
breast cancers were detected signifi-cantly more frequently by screening than
in the outpatient clinic.Breast conservation surgery was carried out for 33% of
the screened group but only 13% of the OPD group(P<0.05).
These findings
indicate that breast cancer screening by clinical examination and mammography
is significantly effective for the early detection of breast cancers.
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