Mammogram, not biopsy, for breast lesions

SEATTLE, May 9 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say a woman with benign-looking breast lesions should not get not a biopsy but a follow-up mammogram.

In a study published in American Journal of Roentgenology, researchers said six-month short-interval follow-up diagnostic mammogram had an 83 percent sensitivity rating -- meaning a relatively high proportion of true cancers were being identified, with a low proportion of cases mistakenly deemed benign.

"Because the probability of cancer is so low, we don't want to put the patient through an unnecessary biopsy, which is an invasive procedure that increases both patient anxiety and medical costs," study lead author Erin J. Aiello Bowles of the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle said in a statement.

The study included 45,007 initial short-interval follow-up mammograms. In the study, 360 women with "probably benign" lesions were diagnosed with breast cancer within six months, and 506 women were diagnosed with cancer within 12 months.

The approximately one out of a 100 probably benign lesions linked to a cancer diagnosis within the year points to a need to monitor these patients, because "we want to detect the cancers as early as possible," Bowles said. After the six-month diagnostic mammograms, follow-ups should continue for the next two to three years "until long-term stability is demonstrated."