Ultrasound diagnosis of fibroadenoma — is biopsy always necessary?

Abstract

Standard clinical practice dictates that all breast lumps require complete triple assessment. This comprises clinical examination, imaging with ultrasound (and mammography if over 35 years) and a tissue diagnosis, using either cytology or histology. This dictat is challenged in a well-written paper published in this issue of the Journal.1 The authors question whether biopsy is always necessary in a subgroup of patients at very low absolute risk of breast cancer. The paper refers to a small subgroup of women presenting to the breast clinic who are under the age of 25 years and have a clinically benign palpable lump.