DNA ploidy in screening-detected non-palpable mammary carcinomas

Non-palpable breast cancers detected by mammography in women participating in the ongoing screening project at Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden, were classified by morphological and cytochemical malignancy grading. The women's age ranged between 40 and 64 years, and the clinical course was followed for a minimum of 5 years after primary treatment. No significant difference in disease-free survival was observed in the 66 cases studied (mean age 58 years) where 28% of the tumors were aneuploid and 72% euploid. Our results indicate that prognosis, even for patients with potentially highly malignant tumors, can be altered when their tumors are detected and treated at an early stage.