Long-term follow-up in patients with mammary gland changes found unsuspicious by aspiration cytology.

Between 1971 and 1981, 2,184 female patients with mammary gland changes were examined using the triple diagnosis approach (clinical finding, mammography, aspiration cytology) and were found unsuspicious for cancer. Seven of these patients (0.32%) in a follow-up were found to harbor cancer. In view of these findings it is felt acceptable to postpone immediate surgical intervention in case of negative results of the triple diagnosis approach provided there is a reliable performance of these diagnostic methods and a close follow-up in these patients.