RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Breast cancer is the leading cause of death of Hong Kong women with increasing incidence. This study aimed to determine any prognostic differences between screen-detected and self-detected cases of breast cancer in a cohort of Hong Kong patients. METHODS: This was a case series with internal comparison carried out in a private hospital in Hong Kong. Approximately 3000 cases of Chinese patients diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ or invasive breast cancer were reviewed. RESULTS: The screen-detected group showed better pathological characteristics than the self-detected group. Number of lymph nodes involved, invasive tumour size, and tumour grade were more favourable in the screen-detected group. There was also a lower proportion of patients with pure invasive ductal carcinoma and mastectomy in the screen-detected group. CONCLUSION: This study provides indirect evidence that women in the local population may gain clinical benefit from regular breast cancer screening. The findings need to be validated in a representative population of Hong Kong women.
