ADH was diagnosed 2.7 times more reliably at vacuum-assisted biopsy than at large-core biopsy (with no increase in complications) with most of the improvement as a result of acquisition of more than 10 specimens per lesion, but carcinoma was sufficiently underestimated with both methods to necessitate surgical biopsy.

FNAB of nonpalpable breast lesions has limited value given the high insufficient sample rate and greater diagnostic accuracy of other interventions, including core-needle biopsy and needle-localized open surgical biopsy.

No abstract

Mammographic and histologic features cannot be used reliably to predict cases that are underestimated with SCNB. However, SCNB with the 11-gauge vacuum-assisted device was as reliable as open surgical biopsy for diagnosing DCIS without invasion.

The cancer underestimation rate with vacuum suction biopsy was 9.5%. The underestimation rate for calcifications (16.3%) was significantly higher than that for masses (1.6%) (p = 0.007). The percentage of the lesion removed was an important factor in reducing underestimation, as reflected by the percentage of calcifications retrieved and the instances of complete resolution of the lesion seen on mammography.