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Stereotactic vacuum-assisted breast biopsies in 500 women with microcalcifications: radiological and pathological
Ute Kettritz1, Günter Morack, Thomas Decker
1Department of Radiology, Berlin-Buch Breast Unit, HELIOS Klinikum Berlin Medical Center, Wiltbergstrasse 50, HS 120, 13125 Berlin, Germany. ukettritz@berlin.helios-kliniken.de
Aim:
We compared radiological assessment with pathological diagnoses in 500 consecutive vacuum-assisted breast biopsies performed for microcalcifications.
Methods:
Lesions were biopsied using a 11-gauge mammotome device. Before biopsy, microcalcifications were classified according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS). Histopathological and radiological diagnosis were compared.
Results:
Histopathology revealed 333 (67%) benign lesions. Benign lesions were classified as BI-RADS 3 in 19%, and as suspicious in 35%. 167 lesions (33%) were malignant. Malignant lesions were classified as suspicious or highly suggestive of malignancy in 63%. Frequency of malignancy in BI-RADS categories 4 and 5 was 35% and 100%, respectively. In BI-RADS 3 microcalcifications, the malignancy frequency was 19%. The mammographic features with the highest positive predictive value for malignancies were pleomorphic morphology (42%) and a linear or segmental distribution (51%). The microcalcification morphology was not reliably able to predict malignancy.
Conclusion:
In this study, BI-RADS 3 microcalcification lesions had a malignancy rate that is higher than previously reported. Vacuum-assisted biopsy is useful in any indeterminate and suspicious microcalcifications and provides maximum information before any operative intervention.
