Risk of needle-track seeding after diagnostic image-guided core needle biopsy in breast cancer.

Objective: Image-guided core needle biopsy (IGCNB) is an accepted technique for sampling nonpalpable mammographically detected suspicious breast lesions. However, the concern for needle-track seeding in malignant lesions remains. An alternative to IGCNB is needle-localization breast biopsy (NLBB). No study has been done to compare the local recurrence rate of breast cancer after IGCNB versus NLBB.

Methods: We have retrospectively reviewed the local recurrence of breast cancer in patients diagnosed by either IGCNB or NLBB who underwent breast-preserving treatment for their cancer between May 1990 and June 1995. The length of follow-up averaged 29.7 months.

Results: Three hundred ninety-eight patients were diagnosed with breast cancer by IGCNB (297 patients) or NLBB (101 patients). All patients underwent breast-conserving surgery. Fifteen (3.77%) patients had a local recurrence: 11(3.70%) in the IGCNB group and 4 (3.96%) in the NLBB group. These recurrence rates are not statistically different.

Conclusion: Concerns for seeding of the needle track with cancer cells have made some surgeons wary of IGCNB. However, we did not find an increased rate of recurrence due to needle-track seeding, and IGCNB remains our procedure of choice for diagnosing mammographically detected suspicious breast lesions.