On the staging of breast carcinoma

The implications of the new staging system for breast carcinoma proposed in 1973 by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC) in conjunction with the American Joint Committee on Cancer Staging and End Results (AJC) has been examined both in terms of staging distribution and the presentation of survival results as compared with the currently used International staging classification in a large consecutive series of patients referred for treatment between 1960-62. The new UICC/AJC system, if accepted, will require some 23% of cases at present Stage II (International) to be allocated to Stage I depending on a clinical assessment as to whether the nodes are involved or not. It will result in the reporting of increased survival rates for Stage I and Stage II disease, and this change is sufficiently large to be of statistical significance in Stage I disease at five and ten years.