Mass screening for breast cancer.

The mass screening for detection of breast cancer has been conducted in Miyagi Prefecture since 1977. The main activities comprise the itinerant screening in the residential districts and the group screening of female workers at the vocational sites. The routine examination at the Cancer Detection Center is also an integral part of the activities. In the present paper, the data from the above three procedures were compared. The examinees were 49,114 in the residential districts, 6,725 at the vocational sites and 3,055 at the Center. The breast cancer was detected in 51 cases (0.1%) by the itinerant residential screening, 14 (0.2%) at the vocational sites and 73 (2.4%) at the Center. The problems of the first-stage mass screening to detect breast cancer at the early stage were discussed.