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  • Title: [The role of ductal galactography in the differential diagnosis of breast carcinoma].
    Author: Ambrogetti D, Berni D, Catarzi S, Ciatto S.
    Journal: Radiol Med; 1996 Mar; 91(3):198-201. PubMed ID: 8628930.
    Abstract:
    The authors report on a series of 1009 consecutive patients submitted to clinical examination, mammography, cytology and galactography for the presence of nipple discharge. Galactography was performed mainly in the presence of hematic nipple discharge. Surgical biopsy was performed in 392 cases, and 52 cancers (31 invasive and 21 intraductal lesions) were diagnosed, which were suspected at palpation, mammography, cytology and galactography in 17, 17, 18 and 31 cases, respectively. Forty of 52 cancers were suspected on the basis of combined exam findings, while 8 cancers (7 intraductal and 1 invasive lesions) were submitted to biopsy on the basis of a galactographic diagnosis of multiple benign papilloma, an (invasive) lesion with a diagnosis of single papilloma, and 3 (invasive) lesions because of persistent hematic discharge. Cancer was suspected with only one exam in 14 cases: 3 at cytology, 2 at mammography, 1 at clinical examination and 8 at galactography. Hematic discharge alone is not a sufficient reason to indicate surgery, because its positive predictive value for cancer is low (< or = 10%), while cytology is of limited help because of its poor sensitivity (34.6%). In contrast, galactography (59.6% sensitivity) gives a greater contribution to differential diagnosis and is always indicated in the presence of hematic discharge. Galactographic evidence suspicious for cancer (67.3% positive predictive value) or for multiple papilloma (9.7% positive predictive value) is sufficient to advise open biopsy. The surgical removal of single papillomas is of questionable benefit, since single papillomas are benign lesions, with no clear evidence of progression to cancer. In our series, only one cancer was misdiagnosed as a single papilloma at galactography (0.5% positive predictive value).
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