Breast Cancer in 2024: Looking Back and Moving Forward

In a recent issue of The New York Times, Barron Lerner discussed Betty Ford’s breast cancer diagnosis in 1974.1 He described the state of the art of breast cancer treatment at the time and how her diagnosis accelerated the uptake of screening across the country. But her cancer was not screen-detected, and it was node-positive. He suggested, rather, that her cancer was cured by chemotherapy: “Mrs.