Risk factors and natural history of breast cancer in younger Chinese women.

Aim: To investigate the age differences in the risk factors, clinicopathological characteristics and patterns of treatment of female breast cancer patients.

Methods: Seven thousand one hundred and fifty-two women with primary breast cancer from the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Registry were recruited after receiving patients' consent, they were asked to complete standardized questionnaires which captured their sociodemographic characteristics and risk factors associated with breast cancer development. Among them, clinicopathological data and patterns of treatment were further collected from medical records of 5523 patients with invasive breast cancers.

Human papillomavirus DNA and liquid-based cervical cytology cotesting in screening and follow-up patient groups.

Objective: To compare the use of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA and cervical cytology cotesting in screening and follow-up of patients with previous cervical abnormalities and to assess the significance of a positive HPV DNA test result in re-screening of cytologically normal cases.

Study Design: Cellular samples collected in liquid-based fixative were used for both cervical cytology and HPV DNA testing. The cervical cytology slides were manually screened by cytotechnologists followed by rapid re-screening by pathologists.