President's address. The contributions of radiology to the diagnosis, management, and cure of breast cancer.

The role of radiology in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is reviewed and placed in the context of advances in diagnostic radiology and radiation oncology in the overall care of patients with this disease. The author discusses the early history of mammography, the results of large-scale screening studies, improvements in the understanding of the biology of tumors, and the principles underlying the movement away from radical or modified radical mastectomy for tumor control.