BACKGROUND:
Previous National Cancer Data Base data have been used to examine time trends in stage of disease and treatment patterns for breast cancer. The most current (1990) data are described here.
METHODS:
Two calls for data have yielded a total of 143,051 breast cancer cases for 1985, 1988, and 1990 from hospital cancer registries across the United States.
RESULTS:
The percentage of in situ cancers increased between 1985 and 1988 but was essentially constant between 1988 and 1990. The use of breast-conserving partial mastectomy across the country increased between 1988 and 1990. Some interesting regional differences appeared in the use of multimodality treatment.
CONCLUSIONS:
These data suggest a plateau in the use of mammographic screening.