Rationale and technique of clinical breast examination.

Despite the advances in breast imaging, there are clear indications for the need of clinical breast examination as part of breast cancer screening for all women. The article reviews the technique for clinical breast examination and assessment of its results. The main goal of the clinical breast examination is to differentiate normal physiologic nodularity from a discrete breast mass. If a discrete mass is identified, evaluation is mandatory in all cases to exclude breast cancer. This evaluation is guided by the features of the clinical findings, the age of the woman, and her personal risk for breast cancer.