Jayne Horwich examines the appropriateness of current patient education literature on breast self-examination

Breast self-examination (BSE) as a form of screening is relevant to the principles formulated by Wilson and Jungner for the WHO in 1968, in that the condition sought is an important health problem, being the most common cancer affecting and causing death in British women. Regular BSE is a test which is acceptable to most women, and its repetition is not limited by financial constraints once taught. In addition, BSE is now recognised as being associated with early recognition of the disease, resulting in smaller tumours with less lymph-node involvement at diagnosis (1).