NIPPLE DISCHARGE

Nipple discharge: Liquid leak from the nipples spontaneously or when they are compressed. It can be clear, white, yellow, green or bloody. Nipple discharge may be physiologic, but sometimes it can be pathologic representing a sign of an underlying benign or malignant condition, including a breast cyst or breast cancer (3).

Contrast-enhanced mammography: Contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) is an emerging imaging diagnostic tool that uses iodinated contrast media for the visualization of breast neovascularity in a fashion similar to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (4).

Core biopsy: a biopsy in which a cylindrical sample of tissue is obtained (as from a kidney or breast) by a hollow needle.

Digital breast tomosynthesis: Tomosynthesis or “3D” mammography is a new type of digital x-ray mammogram which creates 2D and 3D-like pictures of the breasts. This tool improves the ability of mammography to detect early breast cancers and decreases the number of women “called back” for additional tests for findings that are not cancers (5).

Fine needle aspiration: the process of obtaining a sample of cells and bits of tissue for examination by applying suction through a fine needle attached to a syringe.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): a technique that produces computerized images of internal body tissues using a powerful magnetic field and pulses of radio waves.

Mammography: X-ray examination of the breasts.

Ultrasound: the diagnostic or therapeutic use of ultrasound and especially a noninvasive technique involving the formation of a two-dimensional image used for the examination and measurement of internal body structures and the detection of bodily abnormalities.