Image Guided Core Biopsy of the Breast

The multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis of breast disease has arisen from the many national breast screening programmes, especially those in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands. This approach has been applied to the symptomatic breast services, and cancers are now being diagnosed at a much earlier stage, with imaging abnormalities that are extremely small and difficult to biopsy. In Europe, the initial pathological diagnosis tool remains fine needle aspiration cytology, but definitive diagnosis using this technique is occasionally not possible. This book reflect, this multidisciplinary approach and describes, in a practical and clinically relevant way, the principles and practice of core biopsy techniques. It shows how this type of biopsy can be used to improve preoperative diagnosis rates in a cost-effective manner and, whilst discussing all currently used protocols in detail, it focuses an the simpler, "low-tech" lateral stereotactic needle guide.