Mass screening for breast cancer

Breast cancer is now the most common cancer in women. There is a certain correlation between the stage of the disease at diagnosis and outcome after treatment. Several studies have been initiated involving mammography with or without physical examination aimed at early detection of breast cancer in asymptomatic women. In order to review the results to date, a meeting was held in Reykjavík in April 1984 organized by international and Icelandic health agencies and attended by senior investigators of the ongoing screening studies. A summary of the available data is presented in this paper along with the conclusions of the meeting.