[Epidemiology of breast cancers in the Somme department (1990-1993)]

Breast cancer is the commonest female cancer in the Somme region and represents the leading cause of cancer mortality in women. It therefore constitutes an important public health problem. From 1990 to 1993, 1,106 new cases of breast cancer were recorded by the Somme Cancer Registry. The incidence continued to increase over this period in the Somme region. The mortality rate for this period was 35.1/100,000 women, while the standardized mortality rate for the world population was 20.9/100,000 women. The most frequent histological types were invasive ductal carcinoma (64.3%) and invasive lobular carcinoma (5%). Carcinoma in situ represented 2.9% cases; 4% of patients presented metastases at the time of diagnosis. For the period 1990-1993, 44.3% cases were classified as T1, 37.9% as T2 and 11.5% as T3-T4. The lymph node extension rate was less than 15% for tumours less than 10 mm (on the resection specimen). The 5-year survival rate was 73%. It is important to increase the rate of early diagnosis in order to improve the overall survival of this disease.