Abstract
Inverted and bleeding nipples and chronic inflammatory lesions of the human breast are frequently noted as forerunners of cancer of this structure. These conditions often present the aspect of the “indifferent vorstadium” described by Ribbert 1 or the picture commonly alluded to as the so-called precancerous stage.
The experiments herein noted were performed with the view of ascertaining what results would follow the inversion of nipple flaps in the mammary gland of the female rabbit.
Eight female rabbits purchased in the open market were employed and their histories and ages are therefore not known. Two of these rabbits were lactating and one other was not full grown. Twenty-eight operations were performed. Eighteen different nipple flaps were inverted and ten of the nodular masses thus produced were bisected and reinverted in other areas. The operations, as a whole, consisted in cutting a rectangular flap in which the nipple was included and the basal attachment of the flap was not disturbed, thus maintaining the circulation from that source. The depth of the flap extended down to the areolar tissue, thus including the skin and gland structure beneath. It may be mentioned that in the quiescent breast, the gland of the rabbit is rather rudimentary in its gross aspect; where lactation is present the gland is well developed and it was sectioned completely through in order to procure the flap. The tip of the nipple was clipped off and the stump cross sectioned and scraped. The underlying gland was, also scraped and partially sectioned. The flap thus prepared was inverted with the nipple downward and then drawn beneath the overlying structures by means of a retaining suture.
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