THE ROLE OF CORE BIOPSY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF MAMMOGRAPHICALLY DETECTED LESIONS

BACKGROUND: Both stereotactic imaging and ultrasound have been used to localize non-palpable breast lesions for core biopsy analysis. In particular, stereotactic core breast biopsy with a dedicated recumbent mammographic unit is an accurate and reliable technique, and this has been substantiated in a number of recent prospective studies comparing percutaneous core biopsy with open excisional biopsy. METHODS: This article reviews biopsies of 521 lesions from 502 cases using both stereotactic localization (469 lesions) and ultrasound (33 lesions). The types of breast cancer and benign breast disease diagnosed with core sampling are reviewed. In this series it was not intended to compare all the results of core biopsies with those of open excisional biopsy, but a subset group, which comprised certain benign lesions and malignancies, as well as lesions diagnosed on core biopsy in which the radiology and pathology did not correlate, was further evaluated and compared to the findings with open biopsy. The cases where there were differences in core and excisional biopsy diagnosis are discussed. RESULTS: In this series the benign to malignant ratio was 2.7:1, in other words, 27% of the lesions biopsied were malignant. The sensitivity for detecting cancer was 97% with the positive predictive value being 99%. CONCLUSIONS: This series further substantiates the accuracy of core biopsy. It is recommended that certain lesions diagnosed as benign on core biopsy histology should also proceed to open biopsy. Correlation between clinical findings, radiology and pathology further improves the reliability of core biopsy under imaging guidance.