Reduction mammoplasty: results of preoperative mammography and patient inquiry.

Reduction mammoplasty was performed on 273 patients for cosmetic or psychological reasons, or owing to inconvenience, such as back pain. In 159 patients both a preoperative mammography and a morphological examination of the specimen was performed and the results compared. Three patients with cancer were found. One of these tumors is stated to have been missed by the mammography and one tumor was found morphologically first after X-ray of slices of the breast specimen. This points in favour of doing both examinations in patients undergoing reduction mammoplasty. According to the questionnaire a high proportion of the patients were satisfied with the operation, and even more patients were relieved of the symptoms, such as back pain.