CAN MASS X-RAY SURVEYS BE USED IN DETECTION OF EARLY CANCER OF THE BREAST?

Therapeutic measures for mammary cancer have been largely contingent upon recognition of clinically established tumors. Increased publicity has brought small or "earlier" tumors to the surgeon's attention, and in the wake of this publicity many biopsies have been performed for benign conditions. In spite of self-examination by women and periodic clinical checkups, the over-all five-year survival rate for persons with this condition still remains about 30%. The most accepted therapeutic procedure for mammary cancer at present is radical surgery with or without irradiation. Biopsy, preferably with frozen section, usually precedes operation in the case of a clinically suspicious lesion. Accordingly, approximately five women undergo biopsy for a benign lesion for each cancer detected microscopically. This procedure leaves much to be desired. In most cases the biopsy is only diagnostic of the lesion examined. This may lead to a serious oversight in women with dysplastic breasts having multiple, bilateral, or recurrent