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 abno rmalities in 17 cases whose histological findings from US-CNB specimens wer e invasive ductal carcinoma without exception. The other 14 cases with beni gn or probably benign mammography findings showed no malignancy histologica lly 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 hi stological type, 100% in direct infiltration, 82.4% in lymphatic infiltrati on, 82.4% in venous infiltration, 94.1% in histological grading and 82.4% i n intraductal spread. Conclusion: US-CNB was useful for making reliable preoperative histopatholo gical diagnosis and may substitute fine needle aspiration biopsy and surgic al biopsy.