Surgical excision of radial scars diagnosed by core biopsy may help predict future risk of breast cancer

Radial scars (RS's) are benign breast lesions known to be associated with carcinomas and other high-risk lesions (HRL's). The upgrade rate to carcinoma after core biopsy revealing RS is 0-40 %. We sought to determine the outcomes of RS with and without HRL diagnosed by core biopsy. Patients who underwent core biopsy revealing RS without carcinoma at our institution between 1/1996 and 11/2012 were identified from a surgical pathology database. Retrospective chart review was utilized to classify patients as RS-no HRL or RS-HRL. HRL was defined as ADH, LCIS, and/or ALH. We determined upgrade rate to carcinoma at surgical excision, and upgrade to HRL for RS-no HRL patients. Univariate analysis was performed to identify risk factors for upgrade in RS-no HRL patients. 156 patients underwent core biopsy revealing RS, 131 RS-no HRL (84 %), and 25 RS-HRL (16 %). The overall rate of upgrade to invasive carcinoma was 0.8 % (1/124). 1.0 % (1/102) of RS-no HRL and 13.6 % (3/22) of RS-HRL patients were upgraded to DCIS (P = 0.0023). The upgrade of RS-no HRL to HRL at excision was 21.6 % (22/102). By univariate analysis, RS-no HRL with radiologic appearance of a mass/architectural distortion had a significantly higher rate of upgrade to HRL or carcinoma compared with calcifications (P = 0.03). Excision of RS to rule out associated invasive carcinoma is not warranted, given a <1 % rate of upgrade at excision. However, excision to evaluate for non-invasive cancer or HRL may be considered to help guide clinical decision-making about use of chemoprevention.