Table 3

Summary of associations between patient characteristics and ductal lavage cellularity

ICMD ducts
 Cell count/ml
 Total cell count/specimen

%
 P1
 Median
 Range
 P2
 Median
 Range
 P2
Overall
 39
600
 0 to 909,090
9481
 0 to 21,818,160
FY Status







     FY duct
 32
1625
 0 to 909,090
30,996
 0 to 21,818,160
     Non-FY duct
 57
 0.037
 0
 0 to 4959
 <0.001
 0
 0 to 173,577
 0.002
Menopausal status







     Premenopausal
 28
1000
 0 to 50,000
22,000
 0 to 600,000
     Postmenopausal
 51
 0.034
 0
 0 to 909,090
 0.044
 0
 0 to 21,818,160
 0.055
Previous diagnosis of BC







     Previous BC
 31
1000
 0 to 909,090
22,000
 0 to 21,818,160
     No BC
 43
 0.361
 390
 0 to 50,000
 0.191
 6000
 0 to 1,229,667
 0.189
Parity







     Parous
 35
750
 0 to 909,090
12,000
 0 to 21,818,160
     Non-parous
 58
 0.073
 0
 0 – 50,000
 0.395
 0
 0 to 600,000
 0.261
Breast feeding







     Breast fed
 31
1000
 0 to 909,090
15,426
 0 to 21,818,160
     No breast feeding
 57
 0.024
 0
 0 to 50,000
 0.091
 0
 0 to 600,000
 0.057
BC during study







     BC
 20
6666
 0 to 25,850
79,992
 0 to 542,850
     No BC
 40
 0.645
 500
 0 to 909,090
 0.133
 7688
 0 to 21,818,160
 0.261
Cytologic atypia







     Mild atypia

5355
 84 to 50,000
105,870
 1920 to 1,229,667
     Severe atypia

3591
 1917 to 18,666
 0.75
 113,752
 48,000 to 447,996
 0.892
     Atypia (mild + severe)
 0
4875
 84 to 50,000
105,870
 1920 to 1,229,667
     No atypia
 50
 <0.001
 14
 0 to 909,090
 <0.001
 174
 0 to 21,818,160
 <0.001

Cellularity is expressed both as cells/ml, to account for variations in the volume of DL collected, as well as total number of cells/specimen in order to permit comparisons between our results and other published studies. P1 = Fisher's exact test; P2 = Mann-Whitney test. BC, breast cancer; ICMD, inadequate cellular material for diagnosis; FY, ducts producing nipple aspirate fluid.

Mitchell et al. Breast Cancer Research 2005 7:R1122   doi:10.1186/bcr1348

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