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Eight, unsuspected breast carcinomas were found in a mammographic survey of 1,223 asymptomatic clinically normal women, over 40 years of age, using a modified Egan technique. The average tumor size was less than one cm and none had metastasized to the axilla. During the second year 971 patients from the above group returned for re-examination. No new unsuspected carcinomas of the breast were detected mammographically. The mammographic yield of clinically unsuspected carcinoma of the breast among women over 40 being screened for the first time is sufficiently high to encourage its extended trial as a screening method. The practicality of yearly mass mammography screening after an initial negative examination is questioned. The optimal interval for re-examination remains to be established.
Stevens et al. (Sat,) studied this question.