[The percutaneous treatment of breast cysts. A proposed new method]

Percutaneous needle aspiration of symptomatic breast cysts has nowadays replaced surgery. The medical literature reports on the accidental breaking of breast cysts during mammography. The authors report their personal experience with the percutaneous treatment of symptomatic breast cysts by cyst wall breaking. Twenty symptomatic breast cysts were treated with US-guided needle aspiration and 6-7 times more air than the aspirated fluid was injected through the same needle left in situ to break the cyst wall. US follow-up scans were performed 3, 6 and 12 months after the percutaneous treatment. The biggest cyst only recurred, while the extant 19 cysts did not. Our treatment exhibited no risks and US and mammographic patterns normalized over time. Our results (95% recovery rate) and the complete absence of any complication prove the effectiveness of this method.