Correlation of X-Ray Picture with Histology in Certain Breast Lesions

The object of the present communication is not only to call further attention to a valuable adjunct to methods of diagnosis of breast lesions (1), although the proper interpretation of roentgenograms is that, but also to the method as an aid in understanding the physiology of this organ and its pathology. Rosenburg (2) in 1922 supplied abundant evidence of a state of affairs which had been suspected for many years. Today, no one would think of making a gross or microscopic diagnosis of conditions of the endometrium without consideration of the menstrual status; it has become, one might say, almost subconscious with most pathologists to interpret the pictures they see in relation to this function. The work of Rosenburg, McFarland, Cheatle, and Cutler on the breast, to mention but several, makes it evident that this organ, also, must be considered in relation to this physiological process. The well known anatomic classification of the thyroid and its lesions by Marine and Lenhart, based on the physiology of the organ, has proved of immense help (3). Cheatle, with Wale, is attempting the same for the prostate (4). The physiologic-pathologic approach to an old tuberculosis of the lungs clarified the picture, no matter how complicated (5), long before the actual bases of the pictures were discovered in the different chemical constituents of the tubercle bacillus (6).