Breast cancer: Image-guided biopsy might spare women from surgery
In a subgroup of patients, biopsy can reliably predict a complete response to neoadjuvant therapy, researchers say
Following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, image-guided vacuum-assisted biopsy can reliably identify a subgroup of patients with no residual breast disease, according to an analysis of pooled data from three continents.
In a paper in JAMA Surgery, researchers note that with improvements in treatment, especially routine use of adjuvant radiotherapy and systemic therapy, certain patients may not benefit from surgery.
They examined data on 166 women – (median age 49) from the UK, South Korea and the US – who had breast cancer and received neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
A total of 143 underwent vaccum-assisted biopsy (VAB) and 23 had core-cut biopsy before surgery.
