Diagnostic usefulness of Tru-Cut biopsy in the diagnosis of breast lesions

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the usefulness of Tru-Cut biopsy [TCB] in the diagnosis of breast lesions. An observational non-interventional cross-sectional review was performed of all TCB reports of a mass or lesion observed in patients admitted between January 2008 and December 2010, at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A total of 275 trucut biopsies were performed during the study period. Histopathology showed 92 [33.5%] malignant lesions, 177 [64.3%] benign lesions and 6 [2.2%] suboptimal or suspicious lesions. Repeat trucut biopsies were done in 29 [16.4%] of the benign cases, 12 [13%] of the malignant cases, and for 6 inconclusive specimens which showed 4 of the 29 benign cases to be malignant lesions, and 5 of the 6 inconclusive cases were also malignant lesions. All 12 malignant cases that had repeat trucut biopsy had a confirmed diagnosis of malignancy. Trucut biospy had a sensitivity of 95.1%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value of 100%, negative predictive value of 97.2%, and an overall diagnostic accuracy of 98.2%. Trucut biopsy is an accurate alternative to fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of breast lesions with a high diagnostic accuracy of 98.2%