Objective: To assess retrospectively the accuracy of core needle biopsy in diagnosing papillary breast lesions and evaluate the prediction of malignant papillary lesions based on sonographic features.
Methods: Review of 130 papillary lesions diagnosed on core needle biopsy (2002-2008) in 110 patients. The biopsy results were compared with final surgical pathology or evolution on imaging follow-up. Lesion size, patient age, type of biopsy needle and guidance, and length of imaging follow-up were documented. Sonographic features were retrospectively reviewed according to the BI-RADS lexicon. Morphology, not part of BI-RADS, was assessed as intraductal, intracystic, or solid.
Results: Of the 130 papillary lesions, 6 were sampled with an 11-G vacuum-assisted needle under stereotactic guidance and the remaining 124 were sampled under US guidance with a 14-G (n = 115), 18-G (n = 8), or 10-G (n = 1) needle. Initial core needle biopsy diagnosis was benign (n = 103), showed atypia (n = 20), or malignancy (n = 7). Thirty-seven (36%) benign lesions were surgically excised and 66 (64%) were followed up. On final outcome, 10 benign lesions were upgraded to malignancy (9.7%) and 3 to atypia (3.6%). There was no significant difference in the benign, malignant, and upgraded groups with respect to size, age, or BI-RADS sonographic characteristics. None of the oval-shaped lesions nor the intraductal ones were upgraded.
Conclusions: Although some sonographic features could favor a benign diagnosis, when a core biopsy yields the diagnosis of a papillary lesion, surgical excision is recommended to definitely exclude malignancy.
Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.