Abstract
One hundred and ninty-six breast cyst fluid samples from 78 consecutive patients with multiple cysts were subdivided according to the K+/Na+ ratio: type 1 (K+/Na+ ratio > 1) and type 2 (K+/Na+ ratio ≤ 1). Cysts of the same type were found in 57.7 % of patients (concordant group). Such a finding suggests that in patients bearing multiple cysts, all aspirated fluids need to be classified on the basis of their cationic composition. In the concordant group, type 1 cysts were more frequent than in the discordant group (80.3 % vs 59.5 %, P = 0.002). High K+/Na+ ratios (> 4.0) were present in 64 % of type 1 cysts in the concordant group compared to 37.7 % in the discordant group (P = 0.001), which suggests a different activity of the epithelium lining the cyst wall.
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