Usefulness of Ultrasonography as a Primary Examination for Breast Cancer in Women in their Forties

In Edogawa Ward, Tokyo, real-time ultrasonography (“US”) is performed, at public expense, by qualified ultrasonographers as a primary examination for breast cancer in women of 30 years old and over. Based on the examination results during the past five years, the usefulness of this method for women in their forties was evaluated. A total of 26, 042 subjects underwent this examination during this 5-year period, and 8, 988 (34.5%) of them were in their forties. Breast cancer was detected in 144 women, a detection ratio of 0.55%. It was detected in 8 women in their thirties (5.6%), 61 in their forties (42.4%), 40 in their fifties (27.8%), 29 in their sixties (20.1%) and 6 in their seventies (4.2%) and the women in their forties showed the highest ratio. The breast cancer detection ratio for these women was as high as 0.68% and that for early breast cancer was 59.0%. Currently, the incidence of breast cancer is showing an upward trend, so early detection of breast cancer in the younger generation is important. US is not a painful examination and the apparatus used is easy to handle and widely available. Furthermore, the number of qualified ultrasonographers in Japan has also increased year on year. Under such circumstances and in view of the high detection ratio, carrying out US by qualified ultrasonographers as a primary examination for breast cancer in women in their forties once a year would appear to be very worthwhile.