Radiology, Vol 204, 149-151, Copyright © 1997 by Radiological Society of North America

ARTICLES

Impalpable breast cysts: utility of cytologic examination of fluid obtained with radiologically guided aspiration

DN Smith, CM Kaelin, CD Korbin, W Ko, JE Meyer and GR Carter
Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the utility of cytologic analysis of fluid obtained from impalpable breast cysts by means of radiologically guided aspiration. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors retrospectively reviewed the reports of cytologic examinations of fluid obtained with sonographically or mammographically guided aspiration of 660 impalpable breast cysts in 583 women during 3 1/2 years. RESULTS: No malignant cells (541 cysts) or insufficient cellular material (86 cysts) was seen with cytologic examination of 95% of the aspirates. Atypical cells were seen with cytologic examination of fluid from 33 (5%) lesions. None of these 33 lesions were found to represent malignancy at the time of surgical excision (n = 9) or during clinical follow-up (n = 24). CONCLUSION: Routine cytologic examination is unnecessary if the fluid obtained with radiologically guided aspiration from impalpable breast cysts is not bloody.

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