Improving Patient Care by Incorporation of Multidisciplinary Breast Radiology-Pathology Correlation Conference

It is well known that radiologic-pathologic correlation is critical in managing patients with breast disease. Although regular multidisciplinary conferences addressing radiologic-pathologic correlation are common at most major academic institutions, this approach is not universal in community-based settings or even some of the smaller academic practices. This study was performed to assess the impact of a weekly multidisciplinary conference on patient care to determine whether all breast practices should adopt this approach as a means to streamline and improve the quality of patient care.

We reviewed cases of percutaneous breast core biopsies presented at our weekly breast radiology-pathology correlation conference from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2012. Each reviewed case was assigned to 1 of 4 categories (concordant → concordant, concordant → discordant, discordant → discordant, and discordant → concordant) based on the "initial" and "final" impressions of concordance between radiology and pathology. Changes in concordance, histopathological diagnosis, or management that occurred during the conference were recorded prospectively and analysed. Changes in management that were considered significant included changes in recommendations for surgery, repeat core biopsy, or follow-up imaging.

Of 1387 presented at the conference, 1313 (94.7%) had no change during the meeting, confirming 1279 (92.2%) concordant and 34 (2.4%) discordant cases. A total of 74 (5.3%) cases had a change during the conference: 22 of 74 (29.7%) were changed from discordant to concordant, avoiding surgical excision in 15 and short interval imaging in 7; 23 of 74 (31.1%) were changed from concordant to discordant; on excision 3 were cancer, 3 atypia, 10 benign, 2 stable on follow-up imaging, and 5 lost to follow-up; the remaining 29 of 74 (39.2%) stayed concordant after review, but had a change in management, avoiding surgery in 14 and short interval imaging in 15. Overall, as a result of this conference, repeat biopsy or excision was recommended in 23, surgery was avoided in 29, short interval imaging avoided in 22, and cancer detected in 3 cases.

Our weekly breast radiology-pathology correlation conference impacted patient management in up to 5.3% of cases. These results support the need to incorporate a weekly multidisciplinary case review of breast core biopsies into all breast care practices. Such a conference maximizes cancer detection, identifies discordant cases in a timely manner, decreases follow-up imaging, and avoids unnecessary surgical intervention.