[Indications and limitations of mammography in the diagnosis of breast tumour (author's transl)].

Malignancy of a palpable, circumscribed, solid breast tumour can be clarified only by diagnostic extripation and subsequent histological examination. None of the known physical methods approaches the histological examination in diagnostic accuracy. Since, however, diagnostic accuracy is as important here as with every form of malignant tumour, mammography is superfluous in case of palable tumour. If results of mammography and palpation are equivocal, it must be decided whether histological examination or expectant waiting for a specified period with serial controls is necessary. The fact that "small" carcinomas can be removed surgically may put the patient at risk if this procedure is practised too widely for cosmetic reasons or in the belief that this is sufficient. Yet radical removal is the cardinal requirement in operations for carcinoma of the breast. Radical operation with complete removal of the axillary lymph nodes is thus not a retrogressive step.