Detection of early forms of breast cancer by mass screening examinations

Data are presented on the results of the complex prophylactic examinations of women at Prof. Petrov Research Institute of Oncology of the USSR Ministry of Health for the period of 1976--1980. Four annual prophylactic examinations (clinical method, thermography, mammography, biopsy) of 4823 women over 35 years of age revealed breast cancer in 51 persons (i.e. in 1.05% of the examined women). In 52.9% of cases tumors were revealed by clinical examination + mammography, in 29.4% by mammography alone, in 17.5% by clinical examination alone. In 38 out of 51 breast cancer patients (i.e. in 74.5% of cases) the detected tumors were less than 2 cm in diameter (stage I, "minimal" and preinvasive carcinomas).