Jl. Gwin et al., INTERVAL MAMMOGRAPHY AFTER NEEDLE LOCALIZATION BIOPSY OF BREAST ABNORMALITIES THAT ARE PATHOLOGICALLY BENIGN, The American journal of surgery, 170(4), 1995, pp. 323-326
BACKGROUND: Needle localization biopsy is commonly performed for the d
iagnosis of mammographic abnormalities, Routine specimen radiography i
s generally recommended, but the value of routine short-interval postb
iopsy mammography has not been analyzed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We perf
ormed a retrospective review of 299 consecutive localized biopsies in
286 women from March 1989 to November 1993. Of these biopsies, 217 for
m the basis for this study; all yielded a benign pathologic diagnosis
and had both specimen radiography and 3-month interval mammograms perf
ormed, RESULTS: A total of 192 (88%) of postbiopsy mammograms were int
erpreted as negative, while 22 (10%) were suspicious, Three patients h
ad second biopsies and all had benign diagnoses, 16 had follow-up mamm
ograms that were interpreted as normal or Stable, and 3 patients were
lost to follow-up, A suspicious postbiopsy mammogram had no significan
t relationship to initial mammographic abnormality or pathologic diagn
osis, but did correlate with specimen radiograph interpretation (P = 0
.02 by chi-square comparison). CONCLUSIONS: In a series of needle loca
lization biopsies with intraoperative specimen radiography, postbiopsy
mammography failed to reveal any missed cancers, Short-interval follo
w-up mammography is unnecessary to assess for residual abnormalities w
hen specimen radiography confirms excision of the abnormality.