A Comparison of Spring-loaded and Vacuum-assisted Techniques for Stereotactic Breast Biopsy of Impalpable Microcalcification Lesions: Experience at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic performance of stereotacticcore needle breast biopsy using spring-loaded or vacuum-assisted techniquesfor impalpable microcalcification lesions in Taiwanese women.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of patients who received stereotacticcore needle breast biopsy for impalpable mammographic microcalcificationlesions from January 1999 to February 2009. The accuracy, false negativerate, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) upgrade rate and rate of concordancewith biopsy procedures were determined. We also compared the diagnosticperformance between the vacuum-assisted and spring-loaded techniques.Results: A total of 335 breast stereotactic core needle biopsy procedures (218 byspring-loaded and 117 by vacuum-assisted technique) were enrolled foranalysis. The overall accuracy, false negative rate, DCIS upgrade rate andconcordance rate with stereotactic core needle biopsy were 88.5%, 17.3%,23.1% and 83.8% respectively. The vacuum-assisted technique yielded betterresults than the spring-loaded technique in accuracy (100% vs. 84%), and thefalse negative (7.1% vs. 21%), DCIS upgrade (0% vs. 37.5%), and concordancerates (95% vs. 79.6%).Conclusion: Stereotactic core needle biopsy is a feasible technique in diagnosing impalpablemicrocalcification lesions of the breast in Taiwanese women. The diagnosticperformance of the vacuum-assisted technique was better than that ofthe spring-loaded technique.