BACKGROUND: The cytological evaluation of nipple discharge is a well-known method for the fast diagnosis of breast carcinoma in females. OBJECTIVES: To establish the frequency of different diagnosis categories, the cytomorphologic features of nipple discharge and, in addition, the relationship between the macroscopic aspect of those secretions and cytodiagnosis. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This study examined the results obtained from 423 patients with nipple discharge during the period from January 1997 to April 2002. The discharges were classified in positive, negative or suspicious for neoplastic cells. RESULTS: Of the 423 examined cases, nipple discharges were positive in four cases, suspicious in 11 and negative in 408. The bloody macroscopic appearance was present in two positive cases, suspicious in seven and negative in 62. The most frequent cytological features, in the positive or suspicious cases, were papillary clusters of epithelial cells with erythrocytes or ductal cells with atypical findings. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Based on this experience, we concluded that the smears classified as bloody, macroscopic or microscopically, should be careful and systematically analyzed because there is a larger possibility of detecting significant lesions in them.
Nipple discharge; Nipple discharge cytology; Breast neoplasm
