Symptoms and signs of operable breast cancer 1976-1981

Abstract

The symptoms and sings of operable breast cancer in 1205 women are reviewed, and in a considerable proportion classic signs are absent. Of the patients 73 per cent were postmenopausal and 76 per cent of cancers presented as discrete lumps. Pain as a presenting symptom was rare (5 per cent), but when questioned 33 per cent of women admitted that the lump was painful. Some 42 per cent of patients had skin tethering or fixation, only 22 per cent had nipple retraction of displacement, and 42 per cent had lesions which appeared to have well-defined edges. Only 2 per cent of the lesions were clinically T0 or T1, the majority (56 per cent) being T2, and 12 per cent were T3.