Fine-Needle Aspiration for Breast Mass Diagnosis

William H. Wolberg, Martin A. Tanner, Wei Yin Loh

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

• Our accuracy in diagnosing 464 solid breast masses by fine-needle aspiration was enhanced by a statistically based algorithm for distinguishing between benign and malignant epithelial cells. Epithelial cells were obtained from 378 breast masses by fine-needle aspiration; nonepithelial cells considered diagnostic of benign conditions were obtained from 66 breast masses, and 19 aspirations were considered unsatisfactory. Excluding one benign cystosarcoma, the algorithm gave 3 false-negative diagnoses and 16 false-positive diagnoses with 211 benign and 167 malignant samples. The overall clinical performance measures for the 444 masses from which diagnostic fine-needle aspirations were obtained and excluding the cystosarcoma were 0.98 sensitivity, 0.94 specificity, and 0.92 positive predictability. Masses diagnosed as benign by fine-needle aspiration can be followed up clinically. Intraoperative frozen section is needed before definitive surgery to determine invasion and confirm the diagnosis of some cytologically malignant masses.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)814-818
Number of pages5
JournalArchives of Surgery
Volume124
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1989

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Surgery

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Fine-Needle Aspiration for Breast Mass Diagnosis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this