Bilateral breast cancer: early detection with mammography.

Abstract

To assess the contribution of mammography in the detection of cancer in the contralateral breast in women with bilateral breast cancer. Mammograms and clinical records of 77 patients with bilateral breast cancer were reviewed in a retrospective study. The contralateral cancer was detected at mammography in 68 of 77 patients (88%) and identified at mammography alone in 50 patients (65%). No statistically significant differences in either mammographic detection rates or stage of the contralateral cancer were noted in patients younger than 50 years (n = 25) compared with those 50 years of age or older (n = 52). Cancers detected at annual screening mammography were of lower stage than cancers in unscreened patients. In the screened group, 41% of tumors were ductal carcinoma in situ alone and 23% were stage II or III, compared with 22% and 50%, respectively, in the unscreened group. Mammographic examination and follow-up in patients with unilateral breast cancer allow detection of the majority of contralateral breast cancers and earlier stage cancers.