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Stereotactic fine‐needle aspiration cytology of nonpalpable breast lesions
Author(s) -
Côté JeanFrançois,
Klijanienko Jerzy,
Meunier Martine,
Zafrani Brigitte,
Thibault Fabienne,
Clough Krishna,
Asselain Bernard,
Vielh Philippe
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
cancer cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19980425)84:2<77::aid-cncr2>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - medicine , radiology , biopsy , cytology , mammography , breast cancer , medical diagnosis , cytopathology , fine needle aspiration , cancer , pathology
BACKGROUND The early diagnosis of nonpalpable breast lesions is a medical challenge because of the low specificity of different radiologic modalities. Fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) assisted by a stereotactic guidance is an adjunctive diagnostic approach in the management of these lesions. The primary purpose of this article was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of FNAC in patients with nonpalpable breast lesions. METHODS Three hundred and seventy‐one lesions from 357 patients (all female) underwent FNAC using the stereotactically guided technique. Of these cases, 243 lesions from 238 patients subsequently were acquired by surgical excisional biopsies and formed the basis of this study. Statistical analyses of the cytologic and the histologic diagnoses of these cases were performed. RESULTS Histologically, 107 lesions (44%) were benign and 136 lesions (56%) were malignant. Of the 136 malignant lesions, cytology was concordant in 73 lesions (53.7%), suspicious in 15 lesions (11.0%), false‐negative in 12 lesions (8.8%) (benign), and unsatisfactory in 36 lesions (26.5%). Among the 107 benign lesions, cytology was concordant with histology in 75 lesions (70.1%), whereas 4 lesions (3.7%) and 28 lesions (26.2%) were cytologically suspicious and unsatisfactory, respectively. No false‐positive cytologies were found in the current series. CONCLUSIONS The current prospective study indicates that mammography combined with FNAC provides an accurate and practical diagnostic approach for the majority of nonpalpable lesions. Patients with unsatisfactory and false‐negative lesions should undergo excisional biopsy. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 1998;84:77‐83. © 1998 American Cancer Society.