Summary
This retrospective study aimed to assess the outcomes of needle biopsies for breast masses that appeared benign on ultrasound. The study focused on a group of 872 patients who visited a symptomatic breast clinic in a London teaching hospital between 2000 and 2003.
The inclusion criteria involved having a solid mass with a U2 ultrasound grade and the absence of suspicious mammographic findings (M1/M2). In the cases examined, definitive pathological results were obtained through either fine needle aspiration cytology (FNA) or wide-bore needle biopsy (WBN). The patients were then followed up for 18 months post-biopsy.
The study’s results showed that 99.2% of cases (865 out of 872) were accurately diagnosed as true negatives, while only 0.8% (7 cases) were false negatives, indicating the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided needle biopsies for benign-appearing breast masses.
