SHOULD BREAST BIOPSY CAVITIES BE DRAINED

A total of 112 women was entered into a randomised study to investigat e the effects of suction drainage on haematoma formation in breast bio psy wounds. Of 107 evaluable patients, 52 received drainage and 55 had no drain. The wounds were examined 1 week after operation when the vo lume of wound haematoma was measured using ultrasonography. Haematomas were present in 48 (87%) patients with undrained wounds compared with 34 (65%) patients with drained wounds (P=0.014, chi(2) test). Median haematoma volume was 20 ml (range 0-172.5 ml) in the undrained group c ompared with 2 ml (range 0-100 mi) in the drained group (P=0.001, Mann -Whitney U test). There was one wound infection in each group. There w as no difference in median pain score or duration of pain between the groups. While suction drainage significantly reduces the incidence and volume of wound haematomas, this does not appear to influence outcome .