Background: Breast carcinoma and precancer are thought to start in the lining of the milk duct or lobule. While ductography has been advocated as the main procedure in patients with nipple discharge, fiberoptic ductoscopy (FDS) is an emerging technique allowing direct visual access to the ductal system of the breast through nipple orifice exploration.
Methods: We applied ductography and FDS to 65 women who had nipple discharge, and compared their utility.
Results: Intraductal lesions occurred in the segmental duct and the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth branches in decreasing frequency with ductography and FDS screening. The detection rates of intraductal abnormal lesions by ductography and FDS and the their combination were 89.1 (37 patients), 97.4 (38 patients), and 97.5% (39 patients) respectively. Ductal washings performed during FDS were effective to obtain representative exfoliated ductal cells which could be evaluated (sensitivity 50%, specificity 94.3%, and diagnostic accuracy 89.7%). As a result, we diagnosed 35 cases of benign lesions and four cases of malignant lesions by cytological or/and histological examination.
Conclusion: Ductography and fiberoptic ductoscopy are useful procedure in guiding subsequent breast surgery in the treatment of nipple discharge.