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Current Oncology
Volume 23
Issue 4
10.3747/co.23.2881
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Current Oncology is published by MDPI from Volume 28 Issue 1 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence, and they are hosted by MDPI on mdpi.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Multimed Inc..
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Article

Is Clinical Breast Examination Important for Breast Cancer Detection?

by
L. Provencher
1,2,3,4,*,
J.C. Hogue
1,2,4,
C. Desbiens
1,2,3,4,
B. Poirier
1,2,3,4,
E. Poirier
1,2,3,4,
D. Boudreau
1,2,3,4,
M. Joyal
1,2,4,5,
C. Diorio
1,4,6,
N. Duchesne
1,2,4,7 and
J. Chiquette
1,2,4,5,8
1
Centre des maladies du sein Deschênes-Fabia, CHU de Québec, Hôpital du St-Sacrement, 1050 chemin Ste-Foy, Québec (Québec) G1S 4L8, Canada
2
Univ Laval, Chu Quebec, Quebec City, PQ, Canada
3
Univ Laval, Canc Res Ctr, Dept Surg, Quebec City, PQ, Canada
4
Univ Laval, Chu Quebec, Ctr Rech, Oncol Res Unit, Quebec City, PQ, Canada
5
Univ Laval, Canc Res Ctr, Dept Family Med, Quebec City, PQ, Canada
6
Univ Laval, Canc Res Ctr, Dept Social & Prevent Med, Quebec City, PQ, Canada
7
Univ Laval, Canc Res Ctr, Dept Med Imaging, Quebec City, PQ, Canada
8
Univ Laval, Chu Quebec, Ctr Rech, Publ Hlth Res Unit, Quebec City, PQ, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Curr. Oncol. 2016, 23(4), 332-339; https://doi.org/10.3747/co.23.2881
Submission received: 3 May 2016 / Revised: 8 June 2016 / Accepted: 9 July 2016 / Published: 1 August 2016

Abstract

Background: Screening clinical breast examination (CBE) is controversial; the use of CBE is declining not only as a screening tool, but also as a diagnostic tool. In the present study, we aimed to assess the value of CBE in breast cancer detection in a tertiary care centre for breast diseases. Methods: This retrospective study of all breast cancers diagnosed between July 1999 and December 2010 at our centre categorized cases according to the mean of detection (CBE, mammography, or both). A CBE was considered “abnormal” in the presence of a mass, nipple discharge, skin or nipple retraction, edema, erythema, peau d’orange, or ulcers. Results: During the study period, a complete dataset was available for 6333 treated primary breast cancers. Cancer types were ductal carcinoma in situ (15.3%), invasive ductal carcinoma (75.7%), invasive lobular carcinoma (9.0%), or others (2.2%). Of the 6333 cancers, 36.5% (n = 2312) were detected by mammography alone, 54.8% (n = 3470) by mammography and CBE, and 8.7% (n = 551) by physician-performed CBE alone (or 5.3% if considering ultrasonography). Invasive tumours diagnosed by CBE alone were more often triple-negative, HER2-positive, node-positive, and larger than those diagnosed by mammography alone (p < 0.05). Conclusions: A significant number of cancers would have been missed if CBE had not been performed. Compared with cancers detected by mammography alone, those detected by CBE had more aggressive features. Clinical breast examination is a very low-cost test that could improve the detection of breast cancer and could prompt breast ultrasonography in the case of a negative mammogram.
Keywords: breast cancer; clinical examination; mammography; ultrasonography; screening; palpable breast masses breast cancer; clinical examination; mammography; ultrasonography; screening; palpable breast masses

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Provencher, L.; Hogue, J.C.; Desbiens, C.; Poirier, B.; Poirier, E.; Boudreau, D.; Joyal, M.; Diorio, C.; Duchesne, N.; Chiquette, J. Is Clinical Breast Examination Important for Breast Cancer Detection? Curr. Oncol. 2016, 23, 332-339. https://doi.org/10.3747/co.23.2881

AMA Style

Provencher L, Hogue JC, Desbiens C, Poirier B, Poirier E, Boudreau D, Joyal M, Diorio C, Duchesne N, Chiquette J. Is Clinical Breast Examination Important for Breast Cancer Detection? Current Oncology. 2016; 23(4):332-339. https://doi.org/10.3747/co.23.2881

Chicago/Turabian Style

Provencher, L., J.C. Hogue, C. Desbiens, B. Poirier, E. Poirier, D. Boudreau, M. Joyal, C. Diorio, N. Duchesne, and J. Chiquette. 2016. "Is Clinical Breast Examination Important for Breast Cancer Detection?" Current Oncology 23, no. 4: 332-339. https://doi.org/10.3747/co.23.2881

APA Style

Provencher, L., Hogue, J. C., Desbiens, C., Poirier, B., Poirier, E., Boudreau, D., Joyal, M., Diorio, C., Duchesne, N., & Chiquette, J. (2016). Is Clinical Breast Examination Important for Breast Cancer Detection? Current Oncology, 23(4), 332-339. https://doi.org/10.3747/co.23.2881

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