[Contrast mammography in spontaneous bloody secretion from the nipple]

43 women with spontaneous bloody nipple discharge were examined by galactography performed with water soluble contrast medium. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of galactography in these patients, to localize the cause of this particular type of discharge and to register the therapeutic consequences of the findings. Surgical resection was carried out in all cases where galactography showed intraductal pathology. The remaining patients (except for four who also underwent surgery) were observed without treatment. No sign of carcinoma was found in a follow-up examination of the non-operated patients after two to four years. The results show that galactography can be suitably used to demonstrate and localize intraductal pathology, and may therefore be of importance in the preoperative investigation of spontaneous blood-stained secretion.