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Is core needle biopsy effective at diagnosing male breast lesions?

  • Epidemiology
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this study was to examine the diagnostic accuracy of sonographically guided core needle biopsy (CNB) of breast lesions in men.

Methods

This was a retrospective study where we analyzed consecutive sonographically guided 14-gauge CNB results on 234 male breast lesions. The CNB accuracy is determined by the comparison between the CNB and its corresponding excisional biopsy or to long-term follow-up imaging.

Results

Sonographically guided CNB was effective to collect satisfactory samples from all 234 lesions. Out of those, 58.55% (137/234) were benign, 38.0% (89/234) were malignant, 1.71% (4/234) were papilloma with atypia and 1.71% (4/234) were atypical ductal hyperplasia lesions. Underestimation occurred in 3.4% (8/234) of the lesions. As for the detection of breast malignancy, the sensitivity of the CNB is 98.9%, specificity is 100%, negative predictive value is 99.3%, positive predictive value is 100%, false positive is 0% and false negative is 1.1%. The overall accuracy of sonographically guided CNB as a diagnostic tool is 99.6%.

Conclusion

Sonographically guided 14-gauge CNB is an accurate, reliable and low invasive procedure for assessing breast lesions in men. Triple tests and follow-up checks of benign cases are essential for a successful breast biopsy program in men.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Breast Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200000, People’s Republic of China

    Yinlong Yang, Shiping Li, Guangyu Liu & Zhiming Shao

  2. Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200000, People’s Republic of China

    Yinlong Yang, Shiping Li, Guangyu Liu & Zhiming Shao

Authors
  1. Yinlong Yang
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  2. Shiping Li
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  3. Guangyu Liu
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  4. Zhiming Shao
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Contributions

Conception and design: YY, ZS; analysis and interpretation: YY, GL; data collection: YY, SL; writing the article: YY, SL, GL; critical revision of the article: YY, ZS.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yinlong Yang or Zhiming Shao.

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All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Yang, Y., Li, S., Liu, G. et al. Is core needle biopsy effective at diagnosing male breast lesions?. Breast Cancer Res Treat 177, 507–511 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05312-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05312-x

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