Thermography, mammography, and clinical examination in breast cancer screening. Review of 16,000 studies.

Breast cancer screening detected 139 biopsy-proved malignancies in 16,000 slef-selected women (8.7/1,000). In these, xeroradiography detected 78% (109), clinical examination 55% (76), and thermography 39% (54). In all 16,000 women, the thermogram was interpreted as positive in 17.9% (2,864). The greatest effectiveness of mammography vs. clinical examination was seen in detection of early breast cancers (small lesions with negative axillary lymph nodes). In this group, thermography was less effective than it was in patients with larger lesions and lymph node metastases.