Mammography screening in general practice - a pilot study

Objectives: To evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and performance of a mammography screening programme for female patients in general practice. Design: A cross sectional study. Setting: A general practice clinic and a resiona/ hospital in Hong Kong. Subjects: 500 Chinese women aged 45 years or older attending a university teaching general practice clinic on Hong Kong Island. Main outcome measures: The rates of uptake of screening, retakes, recall for further evaluation and fine needle aspiration (FNA), and participants' opinion on mammography. Results: The uptake rate of screening was 37%. Mammography was feasible for all participants, 12% had additional films and 7% required retakes. Sixteen percent were recalled for further evaluation, 4% had FNA, one had an excisional biopsy which revealed no cancer. Most women rated pain of mammography mild to moderate and did not find it embarrassing, 98% said that they would recommend it to their friends and 87% indicated that they would do it again. Conclusions: Mammography screening for Chinese women presenting to general practice was technically feasible. Most women found the experience of mammography screening acceptable. The uptake rate of mammography screening was much lower than what would be required to benefit the overall breast cancer mortality. There was also room for improvement in our retake and recall rates. We need to weigh the possible benefit of mammography screening against the stress and resources associated with additional films, retakes, recalls for further evaluation, FNA and excisional biopsy in individuals with false positive results.published_or_final_versio

A pregnant woman with a rapidly growing breast lump

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A review of nipple discharge in Chinese women

Nipple discharge was the presenting complaint in 104 patients (1.5%) from a series of 7000 women who were seen in a breast clinic over a 13-year period. Complete follow-up information was available in 66 Chinese patients. The mean age at presentation was 47 years. Twenty-six patients (39%) were postmenopausal. Unilateral discharge (92%) from a single duct (77%) was the main finding. There were five patients (8%) with proven breast cancer; benign duct papilloma was found in 17 patients. Multivariate analysis showed that cancer was most likely in women over the age of 55 (P < 0.05) and when the discharge was bloody (P < 0.05). Ductography was also found to be useful in the diagnosis of duct papilloma (P < 0.02)

Oestradiol binding activity in rat liver tumours and in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Oestradiol binding acitvity was studied in normal liver tissues of rats as well as as in experimentally induced liver tumours by incubating a cytosol prepared from the tissue with radioactive oestradiol. The free radioactive hormone was absorbed by a dextran-charcoal suspension, and the amount required to saturate the receptors was calculated by a Scatchard plot. Similar activity was observed in normal human liver as well as in naturally occurring hepatocellular carcinoma.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Oestradiol binding activity in rat liver tumours and in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Oestradiol binding acitvity was studied in normal liver tissues of rats as well as as in experimentally induced liver tumours by incubating a cytosol prepared from the tissue with radioactive oestradiol. The free radioactive hormone was absorbed by a dextran-charcoal suspension, and the amount required to saturate the receptors was calculated by a Scatchard plot. Similar activity was observed in normal human liver as well as in naturally occurring hepatocellular carcinoma.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Oestrogen receptor status and survival in Chinese females with breast cancer

Oestrogen receptor assay was performed on one hunderd and sixty-eight patients with proven breast cancer. Fifty-two per cent were positive for receptors; there was a lower incidence of positives in both the pre- and postmenopausal women, when compared with corresponding figures for American women. Patients were randomized into different modes of treatment. It was found that oestrogen receptor positive patients fared better than the negative ones irrespective of the stage of the disease or the treatment received, and this difference was statistically significant in patients with early disease (stages one and two). In patients assigned to some form of endocrine manipulation, 77% of receptor positive, and 7% receptor negative patients showed a response to treatment; in those receiving chemotherapy, receptor negative patients fared better than the positive ones, though the difference was not statistically significant.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Bilateral amyloid tumours of the breast

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