[Mammographic parenchymal pattern and risk of breast cancer (author's transl)]

502 breast cancers with 431 prevalent and 71 incident carcinomas and 3633 patients without breast cancer were classified according to the mammographic parenchymal pattern N1, P1, P2, Dy devised by Wolfe. The percentage of carcinomas in the various parenchymal groups were determined separately for prevalent and incident carcinomas divided by age groups. Risk factors were achieved by comparison of carcinoma prevalence and incidence between N1 and the other parenchymal groups separately for each age group. The mean risk factor of all age groups shows a slight increase for carcinoma prevalence with 1,0 in P1 and N1 to approximately 1,5 in P2 ad 3,0 in Dy. The ascertained risk factors for carcinoma incidence indicate a similar tendency, however in view of the statistically small number of incident carcinomas a final answer cannot yet be given. The risk trend for N1/P1 to P2/Dy as asserted by Wolfe can thus be confirmed qualitatively. However the risk factors seem to be considerably lesser magnitude than assumed by Wolfe.