Breast screening results from a healthy working population

The early results of a breast screening service in a large retail company have been analysed. Female employees over 35 years of age were offered mammography, thermography and clinical examination, periodically over 51/2 years. One hundred and two cases of proven cancer were found in 21 186 women (4.8 per thousand). Non palpable cancers accounted for 56.9% of the total and 37.3% of these were less than 1 cm in size. Twenty tumours were microscopic. Only 13.7% of cases were known to be node positive and 43% of the cancers occurred in women of less than 50 years of age. The results throughout the whole age range encouraged the original hope that screening and early diagnosis will influence the prognosis of female breast cancer.