[Xeroradiography of axillary lymph nodes in patients with tumors of the breast].

The use of axillary xeroradiography for the detection of lymph node metastases from breast cancer was evaluated on 125 consecutive patients submitted to surgery and to axillary dissection. The clinical and xeroradiographic aspect of lymph nodes was related to their histological diagnosis. Axillary xeroradiography was useful in predicting the metastatic involvement of lymph nodes in a fair good percent of cases, but it gave sometimes unpredictable results due to the superimposition of superficial soft tissues and to the lack of reliable diagnostic criteria. For these reasons, axillary xeroradiography cannot be used as a primary procedure before surgery is performed, and the xeroradiographic diagnosis cannot be assumed as the unique prognostic factor in predicting the metastatic spread of the tumour. This technique may prove useful, however, for the study of the axilla in obese patients and for the evaluation of the size and of the relationships of an axillary mass.