A prospective study of seeding of the skin after core biopsy of the breast

BACKGROUND: The number of core biopsies done for breast abnormalities is in creasing. The risk of skin seeding resulting from core biopsy is unknown. METHODS: Consecutive patients diagnosed with breast cancer were studied. Th e skin and subcutaneous fat surrounding the site of core needle penetration were excised and studied by routine histologic staining. Findings were cor related with other clinical variables. RESULTS: Eighty-nine consecutive patients were studied. Thirty-one had ster eotactic core biopsies, 23 had vacuum-assisted biopsy, 8 had multiple-punct ure biopsy, and 58 had ultrasound-guided core biopsy. Two patients who were biopsied using multiple-puncture biopsy were found to have nests of cancer cells in the dermis. One of these patients had recurrence in the skin biop sy site at 34 months. CONCLUSION: Skin seeding may be important in light of increasing use of ima ge-directed biopsy, and particularly for cases in which the biopsy puncture site is outside the index quadrant and in which no radiation is anticipate d. Am J Surg. 2000;180:104-107. (C) 2000 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.