MR-guided percutaneous excisional and incisional biopsy of breast lesions

The aim of this study was the realisation and clinical application of MR-gu ided vacuum biopsy for percutaneous excisional and incisionaf biopsy of enh ancing breast lesions. A breast biopsy system and procedure have been devel oped which allow precise and safe access to breast lesions in any location and use of vacuum biopsy (VB) under MR guidance. Fifty-one patients with 55 MR-detected lesions were examined. Verification of these diagnoses include d re-excision histology of all lit malignancies and for benign lesions retr ospective correlation of histology and imaging, assessment of complete or p artial removal of the enhancing area directly after VB (40 of 40 lesions) a nd follow-up MRI (33 of 40 lesions), (which in contrast to conventional nee dle biopsy can be used as proof of representative removal. Fifty-four of 55 procedures (including 15 lesions less than or equal to 5 mm and another 26 lesions of 5-10 mm size) were successful, One failure was caused by incorr ect use of the VB gun. Vacuum biopsy yielded 14 malignancies and 40 benign lesions. With the available verification techniques all diagnoses proved co rrect. Percutaneous VB became possible under MR guidance. With minimal-inva sion it allowed increased certainty and accuracy even for very small lesion s.