[Studies in the diagnosis of breast disease (author's transl)]

The relative diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination, mammography, thermography and ultrasound was investigated in a comparative study. Mammography proved to be the most accurate diagnostic method, followed by clinical examination, thermography and ultrasound. Whereas in cases of advanced cancer (T2 to T4 tumour diameter greater than 2 cm) the correct diagnosis was made most reliably by clinical examination, mammography was superior to all other procedures in T1 tumours and in impalpable tumours. In our opinion thermography and ultrasound should be excluded for routine use or as a screening test because of the high false negative results. It is, however, noteworthy, that small intraparenchymal cysts can be detected and localized by ultrasound in a very high percentage of cases.