Usefulness of ultrasound-guided, fine-needle aspiration biopsy for palpable breast tumors
T. Hatada, I. Aoki, K. Okada, T. Nakai and J. Utsunomiya
Second Department of Surgery, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether ultrasound (US) guidance improves the
sensitivity of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in patients with
palpable breast tumors. DESIGN: A retrospective study. SETTING: A
university hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 107 patients with breast tumors
(114 lesions) underwent US-guided FNAB and 138 patients (143 lesions)
underwent FNAB guided by palpation (standard FNAB). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
The diagnoses obtained by FNAB were compared with the surgical findings and
the diagnostic value of US-guided FNAB was evaluated. RESULTS: The
sensitivity of US-guided FNAB was 89.3%, the specificity was 82.9%, and the
accuracy was 86.9%. In contrast, the sensitivity of standard FNAB was
61.1%, the specificity was 73.3%, and the accuracy was 65.0%. For breast
tumors 2.0 cm or less in diameter, the sensitivity and accuracy of
US-guided FNAB were significantly higher than those of standard FNAB.
CONCLUSION: Ultrasound-guided FNAB can improve the preoperative diagnosis
of breast cancer, especially in patients with tumors that are 2 cm or less
in diameter.
