In addition to palpation, screening of breast cancer is performed by mammography and ultrasonography at our facility. We studied women who were found to have single, unilateral breast cancers between1996 and 2000. They were classified into three groups 'interval breast cancer', 'breast cancer diagnosed by periodic screening', and 'breast cancer diagnosed in the outpatient department'−and studied clinicopathologically. There were no significant differences in age, body mass index, menopausal status, or age at first parturition among the three groups. The proportion of nonpalpable breast cancers in the 'breast cancer diagnosed by periodic screening' group was significantly（p <0.01）higher than in other groups. There was significantly（p <0.05）more women with 'familial history in the interval breast cancer' group than in the other groups. Symptoms appeared sooner in women who had interval breast cancer without a familial history. With regard to pathological findings, scirrhous carcinoma appeared in a signicantly（p <.01）greater proportion of women in the 'breast cancer diagnosed by periodic screening' group than in the other groups. The mean of distance of tumor in the 'breast cancer diagnosed by periodic screening' group was significantly（p＝0.05）smaller than in the 'breast cancer diagnosed in the outpatient clinic' group（p＝0.05）. In future, screening for breast cancer needs to focus on three issues : more detailed investigation of patients in whom breast cancer is overlooked, modality−preferably ultrasonography, and recommendation for annual screening.
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