A comparison of breast self-examination and clinical examination.

Twenty-six female college students were trained to examine their breasts using the Mammacare Method. After training, participants were asked to demonstrate their breast self-examination technique for a competency evaluation. On average, 85% of the components of the palpation technique were correctly included in the participants' self-examinations, indicating that they had been trained competently. Breast self-examiners then were asked to palpate three breast models in search of embedded lumps. Thirteen health professionals were asked to examine the same breast models for lumps. The examination of the models by self-examiners was compared to that by health professionals. Breast self-examiners took longer to examine each model, and on average correctly identified significantly more lumps than health professionals. The two groups did not differ in number of false-positive findings. These results indicate that women adequately trained to perform breast self-examination can perform breast examinations at least as accurately as health professionals.