Radial scars without atypia in percutaneous biopsy specimens: can they obviate surgical biopsy?

To evaluate the need for surgical biopsy in patients diagnosed with radial scars without atypia by percutaneous biopsy.

In this retrospective observational study, we selected patients with a histological diagnosis of radial scar in specimens obtained by percutaneous biopsy during an 8-year period. The statistical analysis was centered on patients with radial scar without atypia (we assessed the radiologic presentation, the results of the percutaneous biopsy, and their correlation with the results of surgical biopsy and follow-up) and we added the patients with atypia and cancer in the elaboration of the diagnostic indices.

We identified 96 patients with radial scar on percutaneous biopsy; 54 had no atypia, 18 had atypia, and 24 had cancer. Among patients with radial scar without atypia, there were no statistically significant differences between patients who underwent imaging follow-up and those who underwent surgical biopsy (p>0.05). The rate of underdiagnosis for percutaneous biopsy in patients without atypia was 1.9%. The rates of diagnosis obtained with percutaneous biopsy in relation to follow-up and surgical biopsy in the 96 cases were sensitivity 92.3%, specificity 100%, positive predictive value 100%, negative predictive value 97.2%, and accuracy 97.9%. The area under the ROC curve was 0.96 (p<0.001), and the kappa concordance index was 0.95 (p<0.001) CONCLUSIONS: We consider that it is not necessary to perform surgical biopsies in patients with radial scars without atypia on percutaneous biopsies because the rate of underestimation is very low and the concordance between the diagnosis reached by percutaneous biopsy and the definitive diagnosis is very high.