Ductal lavage is a procedure for collecting pre-cancerous and cancerous cells from milk ducts in the breast, the source of most breast cancer. ProDuct's ductal lavage procedure is based on decades of research showing that most breast cancer begins in the cells lining the milk ductal system of the breast. Just as Pap tests are used to identify significant precancerous cervical disease, ductal lavage gives physicians and their patients additional information to make decisions about management and therapeutic options.
Breast cancer is a leading cause of death for women.
The devices used in the ductal lavage procedure have been cleared by the FDA for medical use. The procedure will be used as a way to assess risk among a group of women who are already at high risk for breast cancer. It is not recommended as a general screening approach for all women. Only physicians on Quest Diagnostics' medical staff who have been trained jointly by ProDuct Health and Dr. Britt-Marie Ljung, Professor of Pathology, from the University of California, San Francisco, will review ductal lavage specimens. Dr. Ljung was the lead pathologist in the ProDuct Health clinical trial and has evaluated over a thousand ductal lavage specimens.