title: Follow-up of benign screen-detected breast lesions with suspicious preoperative needle biopsies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the outcome of patients with screen-detected breast lesions in whom preoperative core biopsy (CB), or fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), or both were suspicious of malignancy or malignant, but the final histology of the excised lesion was benign.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-nine patients who fulfilled the above criteria were identified from a prospectively entered database of 192,153 breast screening examinations at the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Breast Screening Unit. Thirty-four patients had suspicious or malignant preoperative FNAC and/or CB, and five had FNAC only. Follow-up was mainly by mammograms. Outcome data were collected from hospital case notes and radiology reports.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median follow-up period was 3 years following excision biopsy. One patient whose excision biopsy histology was atypical ductal hyperplasia developed a mammographically occult carcinoma in the same breast after 24 months. There were no other cancers reported during this time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The problem of suspicious preoperative needle biopsies with benign excision biopsy is uncommon in the breast screening population. These patients are not at an increased risk of being diagnosed with a carcinoma in the subsequent 3 years and may be discharged back to standard breast screening.
authors: Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Breast Screening Unit, Luton & Dunstable Hospital, Luton, Bedfordshire, UK.
authors: D B
authors: DB
authors: Shrestha
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Ravichandran
authors: Y
authors: Y
authors: Baber
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Allen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008408:Mastectomy; D008875:Middle Aged; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors