Effectiveness of Breast Cancer Screening Using Mammography

• Published in: Journal of Japan Association of Breast Cancer Screening Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 115 - 121
• Main Authors: Koga, Sunao, Mori, Hisaharu, Name, Shigeru, Yamasaki, Miki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japan Association of Breast Cancer Screening 1999
• Subjects: breast cancer screening; early breast cancer; mammography; women in their forties
• ISSN: 0918-0729; 1882-6873
• DOI: 10.3804/jjabcs.8.115

Since 1990, we have been carrying out breast cancer screening by clinical examination using mammography in women visiting our human “Dry Dock” Center. For a total of 15, 928 women screened between November 1990 and June 1998, the recall rate for further examination was 7.8%. Forty-three breast cancers were detected in 42 women, a detection rate of 0.26%. Of these women, 34 had mammographic findings suggestive of malignancy (mass and/or micro-calcification or distortion), and 8 were negative. Among women aged 40-49, nineteen cancers were detected, a detection rate of 0.27%. The TNM stages of the 43 detected cancers were : Tis, 11.6% ; Stage-0, 25.6% ; St.-I, 30.2% ; St.II, 25.6% ; St-IIIa, 2.3% ; StIIIb, 2.3% ; St?IV, 2.3%, and the detection rate for early breast cancers was 67.4%. Twenty-five patients were operated on in our hospital. The clinical stage and outcome of these 25 patients in whom cancers were detected by screening were compared with the results of 92 patients who visited the surgical outpatient department of our hospital for clinical evaluation during the same period. Early breast cancers accounted for 76.9% of the screened group, and 47.8% of the outpatient group (p<0.01). Examination of axillary lymph nodes revealed metastates in 12.5% of the screened group and 40.7% of the outpatient group (p<0.02). These findings indicate that breast screening by clinical examination using mammography is significantly more effective for early detection of breast cancers.