Abstract
A clinical study was made of 26 cases of breast cancer which turned out to be malignant during the course of follow-up for benign tumors or no dominant masses in spite of the subjective symptom of known masses.
During the follow-up period, 13 of 18 patients with growth of the mass visited hospital for reexamination. The age of the patients ranged from 30 to 55 at the time of diagnosis. Twenty-six follow-up cases were compared with 262 cases of breast cancer diagnosed by the first examination. Family history of breast cancer and special type of invasive carcinoma in histologic findings were present more frequently in the follow-up cases. About half of the follow-up cases were diagnosed by needle aspiration cytology. The suffering time over 7 months or more affected on the stage, but it did not affect on the prognosis at the average period of 5 years after the operation. Therefore, we conclude that needle aspiration cytology is one of the useful examination for the decision of follow-up case. The patient who has a feeling of mass should be examined within 6 months as a high risk group. It is emphasized that patient must be checked again when the mass changes its size or hardness.
