Tumor size as a surrogate end point for the detection of early breast cancer: a 30-year (1972-2002), single-center experience in southern Brazil.

The 30-year experience in improving detection of breast cancer in the Breast Unit of the Hospital de Clínicas, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (1972-2002) is reported. We retrospectively analyzed the behavior of surrogate parameters of early breast cancer detection, such as the mean tumor diameter at diagnosis, clinical staging, as well as the percentage of breast conservative surgery along this period of three decades. From 2,103 identified women, 1,607 women met our criteria for study entry and had follow-up information, constituting our study cohort.