Survival in breast cancer diagnosed between mammographic screening examinations.

In women drawn from a randomised, population-based trial of mammography screening for breast cancer the overall actuarial survival and disease-free survival for up to 7 years of observation were similar in 94 patients with interval cancers and 178 control patients with cancer diagnosed independent of screening. The similarity was confirmed by multiple regression analysis. These results contradict the hypothesis that a high growth rate of the primary tumour is associated with a greater metastatic potential and do not support the concept that patients with interval cancers should receive more aggressive local or systemic treatment.