Fine needle aspiration of poorly defined indurated and well-defined breastlesions:a cytopathologic comparative study.
OBJECTIVE: To compare the cytologic findings and diagnoses of breast fineneedle aspiration (FNA) samples of well-defined lesions (WDL) with those of poorly defined induratedlesions. STUDY DESIGN: We examined 371 consecutive breast FNA specimens obtained without diagnosticimage guidance. Fifty-eight lesions were described by the examining pathologists as PDILs, and theremaining 313 lesions were described as WDLs. RESULTS: Compared with WDLs, PDILs were more likely toyield hypocellular specimens deemed unsatisfactory for diagnostic evaluation (37.9% vs. 14.1%).However, a substantial number of atypical, suspicious for malignancy and malignant cases (12.1%,5.2%, and 13.8%, respectively) were identified with PDILs. In addition, benign diagnoses were morefrequently rendered with aspirates of WDLs, compared with PDILs (47.9% vs. 31.0%). In our study,FNAs of PDILs were more often diagnostic in white women < 49 years of age and in lesions measuring >2 cm. CONCLUSION: Given the relatively high frequency of malignant, suspicious and atypical lesionsdetected with PDILs, FNA is a suitable first diagnostic approach for PDILs, especially consideringthe relatively low cost and simplicity of FNA procedures without diagnostic imaging guidance.
Takei,H Ruiz,B Dancer,J Hicks,J
Department of Pathology, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.takei327@aol.com
Aged Biopsy, Fine-Needle Breast Breast Neoplasms Continental PopulationGroups
