Ultrasound-Guided Breast Interventions: Accuracy of Biopsy Techniques and Applications in Patient Management

Interventional radiology in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the breast: a historical review and future perspective based on currently available techniques

OBJECTIVE

The topic of imaging-guided breast interventions spans more than 30 years. Radiologists pioneered procedures such as needle or wire localization and ultrasound and stereotactic-guided biopsy. Using recently developed devices and technology, the opportunity exists to treat lesions of the breast with minimally invasive imaging-guided techniques.

CONCLUSION

Breast imagers and interventional radiologists, along with our surgical and oncologic colleagues, are best qualified to participate together in the research and development of these procedures.

Breast ultrasound for the interventionalist

Ultrasound (US)-guided interventional procedures are routinely performed for lesions visualized on US and are the standard of care in the diagnosis and management of breast disease. When performed correctly, these procedures are safe, minimally invasive, and have a high diagnostic accuracy comparable to surgical biopsy. The most commonly performed US-guided procedures include fine-needle aspiration, core needle biopsy, and preoperative wire localization. The success of these procedures depends on a thorough understanding of the indications, strong technical skills, and appropriate postbiopsy management. This article reviews the indications and techniques for US-guided interventional procedures. Concordance of imaging and pathology results, potential challenges, and associated complications are also discussed.

Examining the sensitivity of ultrasound-guided large core biopsy for invasive breast carcinoma in a population screening programme

INTRODUCTION

To evaluate the sensitivity of ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy (UCB) in invasive breast carcinoma and to establish causes of false-negative biopsy in a population screening programme.

METHOD

We identified 571 consecutive women diagnosed with surgically proven invasive breast cancer. Histology from 14-gauge UCB was compared with surgical histology to identify true-positive and false-negative ultrasound core biopsies. True-positive and false-negative groups were compared for tumour size and histology. On blinded review of UCB images and pathology reports from false negative (n = 20) and a random sample of true-positive cases (n = 80), we compared core sample number and needle visualisation in the lesion.

RESULTS

Of 571 carcinomas sampled with UCB, 551 (96.5%) were true positive and 20 (3.5%) were false negative. The mean core number was 2.0 (range 1-3) for false negatives and 2.25 (range 1-4) for true positives (P = 0.27). Mean tumour sizes were 13.3 and 16.2 mm for the false-negative and true-positive groups, respectively (P = 0.25). Tubular carcinomas represented 30% (6/20) of false-negative cases compared with 5.1% (28/551) of the true-positive cases (P < 0.001). On blinded review, needle visualisation within the lesion was demonstrated in 47.4% (9/19) of false-negative cases and 76.3% (61/80) of true-positive cases (P = 0.02).

CONCLUSION

We demonstrated a sensitivity of 96.5% with a mean of 2.21 cores. False-negative results were more likely in the absence of post-fire needle position verification and with tubular carcinomas. Neither tumour size nor core number predicted diagnostic accuracy.

Ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration cytology of breast lesions

Breast biopsy consists in the collection of cells or tissue fragments from a breast lesion and their analysis by a pathologist. There are several types of breast biopsy defined on the basis of the type of needle used: fine-needle aspiration and biopsy performed with a spring-based needle. This article focuses on fine-needle aspiration performed under sonographic guidance.It is used mainly to assess cysts that appear to contain vegetations or blood or that are associated with symptoms; lesions and solid nodules that are not unequivocally benign; and axillary lymph nodes that appear suspicious on physical examination and/or sonography.In addition to distinguishing between benign and malignant lesions, ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration also plays an important role in tumor grading and in immunocytochemical identifying specific tumor markers. This article describes the technique used and the possible causes of false negative and false positive findings. Despite its limitations, fine-needle aspiration has become a fundamental tool for the identification and preoperative management of malignant breast lesions.

Ultrasonographic applications after mass casualty incident caused by Wenchuan earthquake

BACKGROUND

Ultrasonography has been widely applied in clinical settings, and its role in the assessment of trauma has been approved. However, there are very few reports about its role in the management of mass casualties.

METHODS

In our hospital, we retrospectively analyzed the application, the methods, and the role of ultrasonography in rescuing the Wenchuan earthquake victims.

RESULTS

On a total of 3,307 wounded patients, 1,207 were examined by ultrasonography, and on a part of them, a follow-up was also performed. A total number of 1,386 ultrasound examinations were performed. Among them, 115 patients received ultrasound-guided interventional diagnosis and treatments. Ultrasound screening detected 23 cases of hemoperitoneum, 45 cases of pleural effusion (blood), 1 case of traumatic intimal tear of femoral artery, 3 cases of deep veins phlebothrombosis of lower limbs, 12 cases of deep-part hematoma of soft tissues. In five cases of negative results by ultrasonography, visceral injury was confirmed later by surgery or computed tomography or contrast-enhanced ultrasonography. All the ultrasound-guided interventional treatments were performed successfully, without any serious complication. The detection rate of trauma-related diseases was 6.96% (84 of 1,207) without false positive; however, the false negative rate was 5.6% (5 of 89). The bedside ultrasound became the preferred examination for the majority of injuries in middle and later stage after earthquake (72 hours to 6 weeks), accounting for 73.9% (458 of 620) of examinations. Ultrasonography-based FAST method was the primary examination tool of trauma in the early stage after earthquake.

CONCLUSION

In our hospital, ultrasonography was widely used in the triage of earthquake victims, bedside examination of severe cases, and interventional treatments. The advantages of ultrasonography such as convenience, noninvasiveness, high accuracy, and repeatability have been sufficiently demonstrated in this mass casualty, where ultrasonography played a great role in the rescue of victims of Wenchuan earthquake.

Accuracy of ultrasound-guided, large-core needle breast biopsy

Ultrasound-guided, large-core needle biopsy (US-LCNB) of suspicious breast lesions is acknowledged as less invasive and less expensive and less time consuming than surgical biopsy, and provides a histologic diagnosis with a comparable high degree. US-LCNB has been proven to help reduce the number of unnecessary surgeries for benign disease. Its limitations, however, are false-negative results and underestimation of disease. Thus, the demand for breast teams is to carefully adhere to the principles of triple assessment and imaging-histologic correlation, and follow-up of lesions with a specific benign histology after biopsy. Also, the acceptance of guidelines and rigorous quality controls help to reliably minimize the delay in the diagnosis of breast cancer in patients with false-negative biopsies. This paper aims to summarize the equipment and methods as well as the benefits and limitations of US-LCNB. Also, guidelines of quality assessment are suggested. Finally, recent developments which may help to overcome the limitations of US-LCNB will be discussed, i.e., directional vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB), three-dimensional (3D) US-guided biopsy, as well as the use of tissue harmonic imaging (THI) and compound imaging (CI) during biopsy.