Mammography in Singapore.

Abstract

Summary An analysis is made of 223 cases of mammography seen in the Outram Road General Hospital, Singapore, from October 1967 to May 1971. All cases had histological confirmation. There were 90 (40‐36%) cases of carcinoma. The mammographic diagnosis, when combined with clinical examination, was 93% correct. The diagnosis based on the reading of mammograms alone was 71 % correct. Calcification in carcinoma occurred in 27% of cases, but only 11 % showed fine sand‐like calcifications. The skin was thickened in 22% of cases. There were 56 cases (25‐11%) of fibroadenoma. The accuracy of mammography taken in conjunction with clinical findings was 32%; mammography alone gave a 30% accuracy. Calcification was seen in 11 % of cases. Forty cases (17–94%) of mammary dysplasia were seen. Mammography in association with clinical examination was 32% correct; mammography alone was 30% correct. Thus the accuracy rates for both fibroadenoma and for mammary dysplasia were much lower than for carcinoma. An assortment of other non‐malignant conditions numbered 37 cases (16–59%). The accuracy rate was the lowest for this group, coming to 16% when mammography was combined with clinical examination, and only 8% when mammograms alone were read. Approximately 20% of all non‐malignant conditions were incorrectly interpreted as carcinoma from mammograms. Mammography is found to be a useful procedure in the detection of cancer of the breast in Asian women. Unpublished data from the Singapore Cancer Registry shows that cancer of the breast is the commonest malignant tumour in the female. It is therefore anticipated that mammography will be increasingly employed in the developing countries of South‐East Asia in the years to come.