EVALUATION OF ASPIRATION BIOPSY CYTOLOGY AND COMBINED PREOPERATIVE TESTS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF BREAST-CANCER

This study was conducted to investigate the usefulness of aspiration b iopsy cytology (ABC) and other combined tests for the preoperative dia gnosis of breast cancer. In an analysis of 599 aspirates of breast tum ors, ''suspicious'' cases were included among the positive, while ''bo rderline'' cases were considered to be negative. The sensitivity of AB C was 87.3%, the specificity was 92.3%, and the predictive value of a positive diagnosis was 92.8%. A total of 207 cases of breast cancer we re evaluated to determine the diagnostic significance of breast cancer , particularly for tumors less than 2.0 cm by means of a quadruple tes t including physical examination, mammography (MMG), ultrasonography ( US), and ABC. The combined tests of MMG or US, and ABC resulted in a s ensitivity of 96.2% and 94.9%, respectively, and were considered to co mplement each other in the diagnosis of small breast cancer. Surgical biopsy is thus not always necessary in malignant cases that are conclu sively diagnosed by the combined quadruple test.