Ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy for breast cancer: preliminary report

BACKGROUND: Ultrasound-guided automated percutaneous core needle biopsy (US-CNB) for breast tumors has been introduced into clinical practice, but it has not yet been used routinely. We evaluated its usefulness, especially in terms of histological accuracy. METHODS: Thirty-one consecutive patients underwent mammography followed by breast biopsy with the automated core needle biopsy device. RESULTS: Mammography was highly suggestive of malignancy or suspicious abnormalities in 17 cases whose histological findings from US-CNB specimens were invasive ductal carcinoma without exception. The other 14 cases with benign or probably benign mammography findings showed no malignancy histologically in the US-CNB specimens. In cases of malignancy, the accuracy rates of histological findings for the specimens obtained by US-CNB were 94.1% in histological type, 100% in direct infiltration, 82.4% in lymphatic infiltration, 82.4% in venous infiltration, 94.1% in histological grading and 82.4% in intraductal spread. CONCLUSION: US-CNB was useful for making reliable preoperative histopathological diagnosis and may substitute fine needle aspiration biopsy and surgical biopsy.