Predictors of invasive breast cancer in mammographically detected microcalcification in patients with a core biopsy diagnosis of flat epithelial atypia, atypical ductal hyperplasia or ductal carcinoma in situ and recommendations for a selective approach to sentinel lymph node biopsy.

15±30% of malignancies detected through screening programs are ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), and the majority of DCIS cases present in the form of mammographic microcalcification. This study was performed in order to determine the value of features in predicting invasive disease in patients with mammographic calcification and to help determine which patients (with, Core Needle Biopsy-diagnosed DCIS) are the most appropriate candidates for Sentinel Lymph Node (SLN) biopsy. The original aspect of this study was to select patients with mammographic microcalcification but without an associated mass. The factor that we identified to be associated with invasive disease at final surgical excision was the presence of necrosis at core histology. SLN biopsy or complete axillary lymph node dissection was performed in 22 (40%) patients of whom only one (4.5%) had a micrometastasis. Further larger studies are needed to see if it would be interesting to propose a SLN biopsy in case of necrosis on CNB-diagnosed DCIS with microcalcifications but not associated with a mass.