Stereotactic biopsy of noncalcified breast lesions: Utility of vacuum-assisted technique compared to multipass automated gun technique

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the stereotactic 14-gauge, vacuum -assisted biopsy technique in diagnosing noncalcified breast lesions. Stere otactic tic biopsy of 116 noncalcified breast lesions was performed with ei ther 14-gauge, vacuum-assisted technique or multipass, automated large-core technique. The number of core samples and time required for each biopsy we re compared. Outcome for each technique was compared based on recommendatio ns after the mammographic-histologic review process. Results from surgical excision and mammographic follow-up were reviewed. The vacuum-assisted tech nique obtained more tissue cores (mean = 15.0) per lesion than the automate d gun technique (mean = 5.8), showed marginal decrease in number of repeat biopsies for discordant results, and required fewer short-term follow-up ma mmograms, although the difference did not achieve statistical significance. The vacuum-assisted technique can be used successfully to sample noncalcif ied breast masses, with marginal improvement over the automated gun techniq ue. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 2000.