Ductal Lavage for Diagnosing Breast Cancer

Recommendations on the use of ductal lavage in women at high risk for breast cancer, and guidance on the way abnormal results should be managed are the subjects of a collective review in the May issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Ductal lavage is a procedure in which a tiny tube called a microcatheter is inserted into the milk ducts . Saline is infused into the duct through a microcatheter to rinse the duct and collect cells. The cell sample is analyzed in a laboratory to determine whether the cells are normal or atypical. The review article summarizes a number of previous studies demonstrating that the presence of atypical cells in breast milk ducts significantly increases a woman's breast cancer risk. Ductal lavage can be used to evaluate a woman's personal risk and to provide information that can be useful in making decisions on early screening, drug therapy, and prophylactic mastectomy.

The reviewers also report the results of a multicenter clinical study on the procedure, which showed that ductal lavage is a safe and effective technique for collecting milk duct cells. The study also showed that the procedure found abnormal cells in 24% of the high-risk but asymptomatic patients in the study.

"As more high-risk women consider strategies to reduce their risk of developing breast cancer, ductal lavage can play an important role in helping them understand their individual risk status,” said Monica Morrow, M.D., who led the review. Dr. Morrow is the director of the breast cancer center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago, IL, USA).




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