Stereotaxic needle biopsy of non-palpable breast lesions. A clinical and radiologic follow-up.

A stereotaxic instrument has been evolved and is now routinely used for screw needle biopsy of non-palpable lesions of the breast detected at mammary radiography. A follow-up is presented of 323 such lesions which were not excised within 3 months of the initial radiography and biopsy. With a combination of results from radiographic and cytologic examinations of cellular material from stereotaxic biopsy, the incidence of 'false' negative results was less than one per cent. The biopsy method can therefore be recommended for the investigation of non-palpable lesions of the breast revealed at mammary radiography.