Radiology, Vol 170, 75-77, Copyright © 1989 by Radiological Society of North America
Residual breast carcinoma after biopsy: role of mammography in evaluation
MJ Homer, R Schmidt-Ullrich, H Safaii, ER Pile-Spellman, DJ Marchant, TJ Smith, K Kelly and NJ Robert
Department of Radiology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA.
The records of 21 consecutive patients referred for breast-conservation
treatment of early-stage mammary carcinoma contained insufficient
histopathologic documentation of adequate resection margins after tumor
excision at other hospitals. All patients underwent postbiopsy mammography
before reexcision of the tumor bed. In 12 of the 21 cases, there was
pathologic evidence of macroscopic or microscopic residual tumor. In seven
of the 12 cases, there was no clinical or mammographic evidence to suggest
residual carcinoma. The findings indicate that mammography is insufficient
to evaluate the completeness of tumor excision in the absence of
histopathologic documentation.
