Screening for breast cancer by mammography: an Australian experience

Four years' experience of screening well women for breast cancer by mammography is described. Twenty-six cancers were detected in 11,927 women (2-2 per 1,000), of which 20 were unsuspected by the patient and 12 were impalpable. Of the 26 cancers detected, 18 had no histological evidence of tumour in axillary lymph nodes, and 10 were impalpable and had unaffected axillary nodes. Four patients whose mammograms did not suggest malignant disease were subsequently found to have cancer, within 12 months.