17 JANUARY 1981, Page 16

Out of date

Sir: Cancer of the breast affects one in 20 women in this country. To describe either the disease or its treatment as 'horrendous', the word chosen by your correspondent Brian Inglis (20-27 December), adds little to our understanding of the problem. Facts are required, not adjectives.

Those of us who try to help women suffering from breast cancer depend greatly on informed medical journalists. As Secretary of this Association, I am in touch with virtually every general surgeon in the United Kingdom, which includes all of those who treat breast cancer. I also chaired a meeting on the treatment of early breast cancer, held at the Royal Society of Medicine in April 1980. I have no knowledge of the outdated operation of 'extended radical mastectomy' having been performed here within the last ten years. I was a member of a delegation of United Kingdom surgeons who witnessed such an operation carried out in southern Europe in 1974, and we universally condemned it. Will Mr Inglis please supply his references?

Adrian Marston Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland, 35 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2