Aspiration of Breast Cysts as a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Measure

Since September, 1951, when the Committee for the Study of Delay in the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer in Philadelphia County started functioning, I have, as its chairman, presumed to have a special interest in early diagnosis of this most frequent of cancers. At the same time, it has been brought to my attention that on occasion physicians have tended to jump the gun, so to speak, and resort to radical measures without adequate biopsy. In spite of our zeal in encouraging early diagnosis, surely unnecessary surgery of any kind is to be avoided. Most of us completely distrust the confident diagnostician who can accurately diagnose a breast mass without biopsy, depending upon history and physical examination alone, and we look somewhat askance at the surgeon who can always distinguish between the benign and the malignant by gross examination of the biopsy specimen. I would prefer the physician who is willing