The 1982 national survey of carcinoma of the breast in the United States by the American College of Surgeons.

The 1982 survey documented changes in the management of carcinoma of the breast in this country. If one compares the current survey results with the results of the 1978 survey, an inescapable conclusion is that there is a changing understanding of carcinoma of the breast and a willingness to apply new knowledge to clinical practice. These results also show the potential of the hospital Tumor Registry when records are systematically aggregated and data from different points compared. Future applications of this survey procedure and further analyses of these data may be used to document progress in the control of cancer. While useful for these purposes, it should be noted that these data are not intended, nor suited, for assessing the superiority of given treatments. They may not reflect the outcome that would result from a clinical trial. Comparisons made herein often involve patients who differed in many respects other than that on which the comparison was focused. However, within these constraints, the data may be useful for clinicians and scientists interested in the dynamic state of the treatment of carcinoma of the breast in large numbers of hospitals in the United States.