Does Ductal Lavage Add to Conventional Risk Assessment?
As the assessment of breast cancer risk is always multivariate, how often does ductal lavage simply confirm what we already know? Individuals with a personal history of breast cancer, biopsy-proven atypical ductal hyperplasia, lobular carcinoma in situ, or deleterious mutations of BRCA1/2 (suspected or proven) are already at sufficient risk that ductal lavage would provide no additional information whatsoever. Would any of us be reassured by a normal ductal lavage in a patient with any of the above risk factors? Paradoxically, it is precisely this group of high-risk women who would be most attracted to ductal lavage in the false hope of an earlier cancer diagnosis. Is Ductal Lavage Cost-Effective? Ductal lavage has been the subject of an intensive marketing campaign- both directly to the public and to physicians- by the manufacturer of the ductal lavage device. For physicians who complete training in the technique of ductal lavage, the manufacturer assists with the referral of interest
