[Problems in the diagnosis of breast disease following mammaplasty (author's transl)]

25 patients were followed up after reduction mammaplasty over varying periods of time. The aim was to evaluate the accuracy of postoperative clinical, mammographic and thermographic findings in the detection of breast cancer. In 7 patients who were operated on according to the technique of Lexer-Gohrbandt, the evaluation of the breast findings was practically undisturbed by operative changes. However, in none of the 18 patients operated on by Pitanguy's technique, was a satisfactorily safe interpretation of either the clinical or the mammographic findings possible; only the combination of clinical examination, mammography and thermography, together with a basic understanding of the operative technique allowed the differentiation between iatrogenic tissue changes and spontaneous pathological processes. The detection of breast cancer does not seem to essentially more difficult after plastic surgery for breast hypertrophy so long as all three of the above-mentioned methods of examination are used and carefully evaluated.