Intraoperative ultrasound guided breast biopsy

BACKGROUND: Biopsy of nonpalpable lesions has increased during the last dec ade. Commonly these lesions are excised using preoperative wire localizatio n. We describe a technique of intraoperative ultrasound-guided breast biops y that allows easier excision and aids in obtaining surgical margins in bre ast cancer. METHODS: Intraoperative ultrasound was performed on 81 lesions. Ultrasound was used in an attempt to approximate a 1 cm margin on malignant lesions. RESULTS: All attempts to localize lesions with ultrasound in surgery were s uccessful (81 of 81). Ultrasound-guided surgery was accurate in predicting margins in 24 of 25 malignant lesions. No complications resulted. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound proved to be an effective technique for localizing and excising breast lesions. Benefits may include improving patient comfort , avoiding complications of needle localization breast biopsy, and simplify ing the scheduling of surgical procedures. Additionally, this procedure may be used to obtain adequate surgical margins and thus reduce the recurrence rate of breast cancer. (C) 2001 by Excerpta Medica, Inc.