DALLAS-Fine-needle aspiration biopsy samples may be just too skimpy.
A research team from the Radiologic Diagnostic Oncology Group has dropped fine-needle biopsies from a trial comparing biopsy techniques. It says that more than a third of 351 fine-needle biopsies gave insufficient tissue samples for breast-lesion diagnosis.
The study continues to compare mammography and ultrasound guidance for larger-core needles, the University of North Carolina's Dr. Etta Pisano told an American College of Radiology breast-cancer conference here.
In a separate report, Dr. Migual Kamat, a fellow at the Faulkner-Sagoff Breast Imaging Center in Boston, said a review of 524 ultrasound-guided and 74 stereotactically guided core biopsies found the former most effective in diagnosing nodules and masses, the latter excelling at spotting calcifications. -Judy Ismach
