Diagnostic Aspects

Abstract

The first radiological demonstration of a tumor in the breast was done in 1913 by Saloman who radiographed an excised breast. It was, however, soon found that with the techniques and equipment then available the demonstration of such swellings in the breast during life was not possible. Some 40 years later Lebourge (in 1951) showed that techniques and equipment had developed to such an extent that with an adequate technique tumors of the breast could be readily seen. However, he remained a relatively lone pioneer in the technique of mammography and the impetus to develop methods of detection of early disease did not come until the death rate from breast cancer was shown to have remained consistently high despite all forms of therapy. Celsus in 200 B.c. said “only in the early stages is cancer curable,” and the confirmation of this undoubted fact is shown in the figures from Manchester and Edinburgh (Duncan, 1971) (Figure1) indicating that the length of survival of patients with breast tumors is directly related to the size of the tumor at the initial examination.