Ductal Lavage May Not Show Breast Cancer
Oct. 19, 2004 -- A new test that collects and analyzes cells from the milk ducts of breasts is not an effective method for detecting breast cancer in high-risk women, according to findings from one of the most rigorous studies ever conducted evaluating the procedure known as ductal lavage.
Dubbed by some as the "Pap smear for the breast," ductal lavage involves flushing fluid from milk-producing ducts in the breast. It is not a screening tool and does not replace mammography; however, the procedure may help identify cancerous or precancerous cells.
The theory is that since the vast majority of breast cancers develop in the cells that line the milk ducts, this would be one of the first places that these abnormal or atypical cells would appear. Some studies have shown that atypical cells increase the risk of breast cancer development. Finding abnormal cells in a lavage sample therefore gives information about a women's risk for breast cancer.
While ductal lavage is still seen by many as a useful tool for assessing individual breast cancer risk among high-risk women, it is clearly not useful for identifying early breast cancers, researcher Seema Khan, MD, of Northwestern Memorial Hospital tells WebMD.
"There was a fair amount of enthusiasm early on that this might be a sensitive cancer detection tool, but the clinical studies have not shown this to be the case," Khan says. "It is now clear that the sensitivity of this test is not very good."
Khan and colleagues from the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, performed ductal lavage on 32 women with known breast cancer prior to mastectomy and on another seven high-risk women having one or more breasts removed to prevent the cancer.
The findings on the lavaged specimen were later compared directly with cells from breast tissue following surgery.
Ductal lavage was able to detect cancerous cells in only about half of the cancerous breasts. The researchers say that this may be due to the fact that ducts with cancer cells failed to yield enough fluid for evaluation, arguing against the widely held premise that fluid-yielding ducts are more likely to contain cancerous cells.
The study is published in the Oct. 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Dubbed by some as the "Pap smear for the breast," ductal lavage involves flushing fluid from milk-producing ducts in the breast. It is not a screening tool and does not replace mammography; however, the procedure may help identify cancerous or precancerous cells.
The theory is that since the vast majority of breast cancers develop in the cells that line the milk ducts, this would be one of the first places that these abnormal or atypical cells would appear. Some studies have shown that atypical cells increase the risk of breast cancer development. Finding abnormal cells in a lavage sample therefore gives information about a women's risk for breast cancer.
While ductal lavage is still seen by many as a useful tool for assessing individual breast cancer risk among high-risk women, it is clearly not useful for identifying early breast cancers, researcher Seema Khan, MD, of Northwestern Memorial Hospital tells WebMD.
"There was a fair amount of enthusiasm early on that this might be a sensitive cancer detection tool, but the clinical studies have not shown this to be the case," Khan says. "It is now clear that the sensitivity of this test is not very good."
The Study
Khan and colleagues from the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, performed ductal lavage on 32 women with known breast cancer prior to mastectomy and on another seven high-risk women having one or more breasts removed to prevent the cancer.
The findings on the lavaged specimen were later compared directly with cells from breast tissue following surgery.
Ductal lavage was able to detect cancerous cells in only about half of the cancerous breasts. The researchers say that this may be due to the fact that ducts with cancer cells failed to yield enough fluid for evaluation, arguing against the widely held premise that fluid-yielding ducts are more likely to contain cancerous cells.
The study is published in the Oct. 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
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