IN THE Third National Cancer Survey (1969 to 1971), cancer of the breast was found to make up 27.5% of all cancer in white women and 23% of all cancer in black women.1 In 1975 an estimated 88,700 new cases of cancer of the breast occurred in the United States; the risk, low for women younger than 25 years of age, rises thereafter and never declines, so that the older the patient, the greater her chance of having cancer of the breast.
Progress made in this century in the diagnosis and treatment of malignant tumors has brought about a reduction in the mortality from some major forms of cancer: carcinoma of the cervix stands as a notable example. However, despite earlier diagnosis, reduced operative mortality, and the development of surgical adjuvants, there has been no reduction in the mortality from cancer of the breast. In the United States, the