Galactogram Grading System for Identifying Breast Cancer With Nipple Discharge.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Galactography is a primary recommendation in the management of nipple discharge (ND), which may be caused by benign or malignant lesions. We aimed to establish a galactogram grading system (GGS) and investigate its role in identifying breast cancer with ND. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 350 patients were included in our study. All patients received preoperative mammographic galactography successfully and underwent surgery at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University between January 2011 and August 2015. We first performed a retrospective study in a consecutive series of 250 patients with ND to establish a GGS. Then the subsequent consecutive series of 100 patients was analyzed to validate the grading system. RESULTS: Our data showed that the GGS can well assess the risk of a galactogram's being malignant. Galactograms classified into grade I have a lower risk of being malignant, while those classified into grade III have a higher risk of being malignant. Thus, our GGS was useful for distinguishing malignant from benign lesions. CONCLUSION: We established a scoring system for breast disease with ND. This GGS may be a novel approach for identifying breast cancer with ND.