Changing trends in breast carcinoma.
In view of the more open medical and public discussion of breast cancer, and considering the general dissatisfaction with radical forms of surgery and radiotherapy, we examined computer records of 1,014 patients with carcinoma documented by the Tasmanian Breast Survey between 1956 and 1976. In the two epochs, 1956 to 1966 and 1967 to 1976, there was a 14% increase in the proportion of patients presenting with Stage I carcinoma, and a 9% decrease in the proportion of patients with Stage II (P = 0.0075) but there was no change in the proportion of patients with Stages III and IV. The utilization of radical mastectomy decreased markedly, irrespective of stage (P = 0.0000), as did the utilization of radiotherapy (P = 0.0000). The mean age at presentation did not change significantly.
D001315:Australia; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D013997:Time Factors