Preoperative prediction of open breast biopsy results

✍ Scribed by Murray H. Seltzer

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 108 KB
• Volume: 79
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19970501)79:9<1822::aid-cncr27>3.0.co;2-z

✦ Synopsis

malignant condition. and Dentistry, New Jersey Medical School, RESULTS. Positive predictive values for all patients, patients with breast lumps, Newark, New Jersey. and patients with abnormal mammograms were 0.49, 0.68, and 0.39, respectively, with the highest positive predictive value (0.89) found in women 50 years or older with a breast lump. Negative predictive values for all patients, patients with a breast lump, and patients with abnormal mammograms were 0.94, 0.94, and 0.93, respectively, with the highest values found in women younger than 30 years (0.98) and in women younger than 50 years (0.95).

CONCLUSIONS. Negative predictive values are reliable enough in women younger

than 50 years to justify initial clinical observation of many benign appearing breast conditions. Minimal interventional procedures and open breast biopsies have a tendency to be overutilized in an effort to avoid any delay in the diagnosis of breast carcinoma. Fear of failure to diagnose breast carcinoma in a ''timely fashion'' is a driving force for interventional procedures in many situations in which close clinical follow-up alone is justifiable.