[The experience of an outpatient service of breast pathology. I. The diagnostic procedure for screening].

The authors underline the importance of correct screening in the female population in order to achieve as early a diagnosis as possibly of malignant breast tumours. In view of the high frequency of this neoplasia, as well as the encouraging results of numerous tested diagnostic protocols in terms of their positive influence on the progress of this disease, the authors prepared a screening protocol within a breast pathology service, and report the results achieved during the course of about seven years. Out of a total of 5000 patients aged between 30 and 90 years old, a total of 261 cases were diagnosed with pathologies requiring surgery with a 57.9% incidence of carcinoma, among which, in compliance with reports in the literature, a net predominance was found of initial stage tumours with diameter of less than 2 cm (58.3%).