Abstract

Background: Breast core needle biopsies are not perfect and could miss cancer. The need for a repeat breast core biopsy is not uncommon and can occur for a multitude of reasons. Radiologists should carefully correlate the pathology results with imaging features after each breast biopsy and must recognize why certain core biopsies must be repeated to avoid missed or delayed cancer diagnosis. In this review, we discuss the main reasons for repeat core biopsies via case presentation with radiological images and pathological correlation. This review will help multidisciplinary breast care team recognize when to repeat a biopsy to reduce false negatives and will also familiarize radiologists with techniques for improving initial biopsy success.

Methods: We performed literature and chart reviews of cases at our institution between January 2015 and December 2019.

Results: While some repeat biopsies are inevitable, most can be avoided with careful pre-biopsy planning, adequate sampling techniques, and proper radiological-pathological correlation.

Conclusion: Repeat breast core needle biopsies occur due to multiple avoidable and unavoidable radiological or pathological issues. It is imperative for both multidisciplinary breast care team and radiologists to recognize when to repeat a biopsy to reduce false negative or delayed cancer diagnosis via careful reviews before and after the procedure and adequate radiological and pathological correlation.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2022

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Archives of Breast Cancer, v. 9, issue 1.

Copyright © 2022

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International License, which permits copy and redistribution of the material in any medium or format or adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, except for commercial purposes.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.32768/abc.20229132-39

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