Specimen radiography: An assessment method for reduction mammaplasty materials

Although, one out of every eight women has a risk of developing breast canc er. the reported incidence of breast carcinoma detection in reduction mamma plasty materials is rather low. To our knowledge, specimen radiography, whi ch is used for breast biopsies has not been used for the assessment of brea st reduction materials. We investigated the applicability of specimen radio graphy and its potential benefits in detection of the breast pathologies, e specially malignancies in reduction mammaplasty materials. Forty patients s cheduled for reduction mammaplasty operation were included. In all cases an inferior pedicle reduction technique was preferred and the radiographs of the resected breast tissues were taken immediately. The radiographs were ev aluated for any possible pathologic appearance and all abnormal findings we re marked. For the histopathologic evaluation, in addition to the random sa mpling of the pathologist, any marked areas were also microscopically exami ned. In two cases fibrocystic changes were found in radiographs and the sam e results were obtained in the histological examination. No false negative mammogram was seen. Specimen radiography. which is applicable for breast re duction materials is an easy and cheap method and does not cause any patien t discomfort. It seems that the radiographs of reduction mammaplasty materi als are useful to provide guidance to the pathologist during tissue samplin g for microscopic examination especially when large a-mounts of breast tiss ue is excised.