The clinical syndrome of mammary duct ectasia

Over an 11-year period in one surgeon's practice, mammary duct ectasia constituted 5.5 per cent of all breast diseases treated by operation. A total of 78 patients undergoing major duct excision for mammary duct ectasia has been studied to determine the success of the standard operative treatment. Good results were obtained when the indications for operation were nipple retraction, nipple discharge or a sub-areolar mass. By contrast, generally poor results were obtained in 9 patients in whom the indication for operation was recurrent para-areolar sepsis; two of these ultimately came to simple mastectomy.