Biopsy of the breast.

A study on surgical biopsy for treatment of breast cancer was done by sending out questionnaires to membership institutions of the Japan Mammary Cancer Society. The problems related to diagnostic biopsy of the breast mainly concern the following two points; the first is the methodology, incisional or excisional, the second, whether delay between biopsy and radical mastectomy influences survival. The prognostic features in patients with excisional biopsy were significantly superior. The prognostic features in patients with excisional biopsy were significantly superior. As for the lapse of time between biopsy and radical mastectomy, 14 days were considered safe, and under conditions such as T2 or n0, this maximum was 7 days.