title: [Breast biopsy performed by the helicoid biopsy technique: an experimental study].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to assess the helicoid biopsy performance when carrying out breast biopsies.
  
  
  METHODS
  thirty patients with breast cancer submitted to mastectomy were selected at random. Women with a tumor of petreous consistency, nonpalpable, submitted to previous surgical manipulation or containing fluid were excluded. The helicoid biopsy kit and a core biopsy device with a cannula and a 14-gauge-needle, respectively, were used to collect a fragment each from a healthy area and from the tumor of each surgical specimen, for a total of 120 fragments for histological study. Data were analyzed statistically by the parametric Student's t-test and by the Kappa concordance index at the 95% confidence level, using the SPSS software, version 13.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the mean patient's age was 51.6 (± 11.1) years old. The core biopsy showed 93.3% sensitivity, 100% specificity and 96.7% accuracy, and the helicoid biopsy showed 96.7% sensitivity, 100% specificity, and 98.3% accuracy. The comparison of tumor histology and biopsy fragments revealed a high degree of concordance in the diagnoses (Kappa equal to 0.9, with p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  both methods provided a highly accurate histological diagnosis of the lesions. The results of the present study demonstrate that the helicoid biopsy is a reliable alternative for the preoperative diagnosis of breast lesions.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brasil. sbmrn@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Eliel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Leonardo Ferreira Nobre
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Milena da Costa
authors.initials: Mda C
authors.lastname: Batista
authors.forename: Julieta Alice Morena
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Isabelle Braz de Oliveira
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Hélio Humberto Angotti
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Carrara
authors.forename: Técia Maria de Oliveira
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Maranhão
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009339:Needles; D011446:Prospective Studies