Malin Dollinger, MD, Ernest H. Rosenbaum, MD, Christopher Benz, MD, William H. Goodson, III, MD, Gary Friedman, MD, Edward A. Sickles, MD, Lawrence W. Margolis, MD, T. Stanley Meyler, MD, and I. Craig Henderson, MD
Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, affecting about one woman in 9. About 180,000 women will develop breast cancer in the United States in 1994, and about 45,000 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 30 and 40 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 chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Over the past 20 years, the approach to evaluating and treating breast cancer has changed considerably.
