Malin Dollinger, MD, Ernest H. Rosenbaum, MD, Christopher Benz, MD, William H. Goodson, Ill, MD, Gary Friedman, MD, Edward A. Sickles, MD, Lawrence W. Margolis, MD, T. Stanley Meyler, MD, and I. Craig Henderson, MD
Adapted for the Canadian edition by R.M. Clark, MB, BS, D. McCready, MD, K. Pritchard MD, and J. Semple, MD
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, eventually affecting about one woman in nine. About 17,700 women will develop breast cancer in Canada in 1995, and about 5,400 will die of it. Breast cancer is most treatable when detected in its earliest stages, and there is great interest in screening healthy women—beginning when they are between 40 and 50 years old—with mammography and periodic physical examinations. These measures will detect breast cancers at a much earlier stage, resulting in earlier treatment and a better chance for cure.
For decades, breast cancer was treated by the Halsted radical mastectomy or a modified radical mastectomy. Women whose cancer was inoperable or who had residual or recurrent local disease were given radiotherapy . Those with metastatic disease were given hormone therapy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
