Reliability of the cyto-radio-clinical triplet in breast pathology diagnosis.

1. Two hundred and twenty-two cases of cytologic breast specimens were correlated with clinical and radiological findings. 2. False negative and no-cell incidence were respectively 2.7 and 2.2 per cent. 3. By means of a thorough clinical and radiological approach the cytologic failures (misdiagnosed and acellular smears) could be corrected: no cancer escaped diagnosis. 4. Cytology diagnosed three clinical and radiological undetected breast cancers, an incidence of 1.3 per cent. 5. Any suspicion of malignancy, either on cytologic clinical or mammography examinations, must be further investigated by means of biopsy. 6. In our experience, evidence of necrosis, even without other cytologic evidence of malignancy, has proved coincidental with mammary cancer.