CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Vol 19, 120-124, Copyright
© 1969 by American Cancer Society
The Importance of Early Diagnosis in the Management of Mammary Carcinoma
William L. Donegan M.D.
Overall results of the treatment of mammary cancer over a 25-year period at the Ellis Fischel State Cancer Hospital were reviewed. The gross age-corrected five-and ten-year actuarial survival of all patients with this, disease improved in the early part of the period, but no improvement was evident after 1948.
Despite the introduction of a number of palliative measures during the period reviewed, no improvement in survival was noted within any clinical stage category and the improvement in overall survival corresponded with an increase in the proportion of patients presenting with early stages of the disease.
Until a significant breakthrough is made in the therapy of cancer of the breast, the greatest improvement in results can be expected from earlier detection. The plateau reached by present technology should not be regarded nihilistically. The practical problem at hand is the effective coordination and use of the technology which exists pending the development of more effective methods of prevention and control.
