ABSTRACT
This was a study of the mammographic and histopathological features of 209 cancers in radical mastectomy specimens. The objectives were to determine factors which might improve the accuracy of mammography and whether there was an upper limit of size, measured radiologically, at which local treatment might be curative, as indicated by the absence of axillary node metastases. The authors reported that when the volume of the tumour was 0.125 ml (diameter 0.5 cm) or less the incidence of node involvement was less than 10%, applying the term ‘minimal cancer’ to those which were non-invasive, or, if invasive, were 0.5 cm or less in diameter. In a subsequent follow-up study of 415 women with such minimal tumours treated by radical mastectomy in four centres, survival over 1-26 (median 5) years was 97%. This threshold of size was subsequently increased to 1 cm.
