[Means of improving the active diagnosis of breast cancer]

The paper is concerned with an analysis of case histories of 1,873 breast cancer patients treated at the Center. Cancer was diagnosed by medical check-ups in 208 (11%) only, while 1,665 (89%) females detected the lesion themselves. In the former group, the frequency of stage I cancer was twice that of tumors at other stages. However, nearly all patients in that group had the same stage of tumor as the patients who consulted the doctor. Early stage malignancies were detected by mass screenings in as few as 1.5% of the total number of those admitted to the Center clinics for breast cancer treatment. Well-organized follow-up aimed at an early diagnosis of breast cancer proved to be more effective than mass screenings. Many measures aimed at an early diagnosis of breast cancer still fall short of their target and fail to detect many malignancies.