Radiologically innocuous breast reduction specimens. Should we send them to pathology lab anyway?

Breast Reduction (BR) is a common procedure around the world. Patients are screened for incidental carcinoma preoperatively by mammography or ultrasonography and BR specimens are sent for pathologic examination postoperatively. Since the incidence of incidental carcinoma is very low, no consensus exist regarding efficiency of pathologic examination. To assess the value of pathologic examination, we examined mammographically and ultrasonographically negative eighty BR specimens from 40 women. Twenty seven women had pathological lesions in their specimens (67,5%). This indicates that, even mammographically and ultrasonographically innocuous, BR specimens may reveal important pathological diagnosis that alters patient management.