title: Conclusiveness of fine needle aspiration in 2419 histologically confirmed benign and malignant breast lesions.
abstract: We aimed to retrospectively assess (1) the conclusiveness of breast fine needle aspiration (FNA) in a histologically confirmed population and (2) the clinical and radiologic determinants of a conclusive diagnosis. Aspirates were diagnosed as inadequate, benign, atypical, suspicious or malignant. We defined a conclusive FNA diagnosis as 'benign' in histologically benign lesions and as 'malignant' in histologically malignant lesions. In 2419 breast lesions, the proportion of conclusive diagnoses was 46.1% (95% confidence interval, 42.0-50.2%) in histologically benign lesions (n = 571) and 81.6% (95% confidence interval, 79.8%-83.4%) in histologically malignant lesions (n = 1848). On multivariate analysis, factors associated with a conclusive preoperative diagnosis included tumour diameter of 2-2.9 cm (P < 0.001), malignant histology (P < 0.001) and the pathologist examining the aspirate (P = 0.02). Breast FNA has to be utilised selectively in the routine work-up of breast lesions. In suspicious lesions of large size, FNA may still be used to obtain a quick confirmation of malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Canisius Wilhelmina Ziekenhuis, Weg door Jonkerbosch 100, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. baukekooistra@hotmail.com
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kooistra
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wauters
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wobbes
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Strobbe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies