[The bilateral breast neoplasm]

Of 282 patients, who had been treated for breast cancer between 1968 and 1973, bilateral carcinoma was diagnosed in 23 women. In these, a simultaneous second carcinoma was found seven times; in 16 cases, the second carcinoma developed during the further course of the disease, wherein the free intervals amounted to maximally 20 years. Attention is drawn to the relatively high risk of up to eight or ten per cent for the development of a carcinoma in the contralateral breast following the previous unilateral carcinoma. This reason calls for a half-yearly, clinical and radiological check-up examination of women having been treated for carcinoma of the breast. Finally, the problem of differentiation of a primary, autonomous second carcinoma from metastases of the first carcinoma on the contralateral side is considered and discussed with regard to the corresponding references in literature.