Stereotactic Breast Core Needle Biopsy in a Tertiary Breast Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the results of stereotactic breast core needle biopsy in a tertiary breast center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Patients who were candidates for mammography-guided stereotactic breast core biopsy from March 2011 to December 2013 were included in this study. Stereotactic biopsy was performed by a dedicated prone Hologic mammography unit employing an automatic biopsy device with a 14-gauge needle. Patients with malignant or premalignant biopsy results were followed up with surgical pathology reports and patients with benign core biopsy findings were followed up with mammograms. Among the 150 patients who were included in the final analyses, 30 had malignant findings on stereotactic biopsy and 10 patients had a premalignant pathology result on stereotactic biopsy. The remaining 110 patients had benign results on histopathology; however, in 30 patients, wire localization and surgery of the same area were performed due to either discordant mammography-pathology findings or clinical suspicion of malignancy and in two of them, advancing pathologic grade was witnessed. A total of 80 patients with benign histopathologic results had follow-up mammograms and the follow-up period was between 12 months to 3 years. The sensitivity and specificity of stereotactic breast core biopsy in this study was 94% and 96%, respectively. Stereotactic breast core needle biopsy is an effective and safe method in evaluation of suspicious mammography-detected lesions but caution should be warranted when taking results into account, especially in mammography-pathology discordance and in patients with premalignant pathology reports.