Stereotactic Large-Core Breast Biopsy

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/26-2-16757 Reprint permission is granted by Administrative Radiology Journal; reprinted from April 1993, Vol. 12, No.4. Surgical excisional biopsy is currcntly the most common type of breast biopsy performed to determine the benign or malignant nature of mammographically detected abnormalities. Approximately 80% to 85% of these lesions prove to be benign by open surgical biopsy. Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of breast lesions bas been advocated to reduce the number of unnecessary surgical procedures. The drawbacks of FNAB include insufficient tissue for diagnosis in 6% to 47% of cases, 1% to 31% false negative results, limited ability to make a definite benign diagnosis and difficulty in precise classification of malignant disease. Stereotactic large core biopsy of nonpalpable breast lesions overcomes many of these drawbacks of FNAB. The accuracy of stereotactic large core biopsy is comparable to open surgical biopsy. The advantages of stereotactic core biopsy over surgical biopsy are that it is less invasive, takes less time and costs less. This article describes the technique of stereotactic large core biopsy of breast lesions and our experience with more than 100 patients.