Objective: To evaluate three biopsy methods which are currently used in stereotactic breast biopsy.
Methods: A total of 361 cases of stereotactic breast biopsies were carried out since 2000, including 73 cases of true cut core needle biopsies (ST-CNB), 74 cases of vacuum assisted biopsies (ST-VAB) and 214 cases of excisional biopsies. After medium follow-up time of 18 months (6 to 66 months), the accuracy as well as the clinical benefits of the three stereotactic biopsy procedures were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: The cancer miss rate of stereotactic wire localized excisional biopsy, ST-CNB and ST-VAB is 0, 2.7% and 0 respectively. Under-estimate rate of minimal invasive biopsy was 33% in atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) and 53% in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The minimal invasive procedure is superior to surgical procedure in terms of operation time, breast cosmetic outcome and complications, etc. Furthermore, 69% of the surgeries for suspicious lesion were waived.
Conclusions: Stereotactic minimal invasive breast biopsy, especially ST-VAB, is an accurate, safty and convenient diagnosis technique and could be considered as the first line choice for mammographic moderate suspicious breast lesions (BIRADS-4). However, further excisional biopsy is recommended for atypical hyperplasia. Stereotactic excisional biopsy could be directly used for diagnosis of mammographic highly suspicious breast lesions (BIRADS-5).