Evaluation of New Imaging Procedures for Breast Cancer

Abstract

Since breast cancer will affect one of 11 American women during their lifetime, it is a major target of medical research. Mammography has been in the forefront of this effort because of accumulating evidence that early detection improves prognosis and because of the demonstrated ability of mammography to detect cancer at nonpalpable stage (Baker et al. 1982). Its widespread use has been tempered by the issue of possible risk from low doses of ionizing radiation as well as by the fact that although more accurate than any other detection method, including physical examination, it may still find only 80%–90% of breast cancers (Baker et al. 1982).

This paper was originally published in the American Journal of roentgenology (vol. 140 pp. 591–594, 1983) and is republished here with kind permission