Management of Ultrasonographically Detected Benign Papillomas of the Breast at Core Needle Biopsy

Management of Ultrasonographically Detected Benign Papillomas of the Breast at Core Needle Biopsy
Jung Min Chang, Woo Kyung Moon, Nariya Cho, Wonshik Han, Dong-Young Noh, In-Ae Park, and Eun-Jung Jung
AJR 2011; 196:723-729

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Surgical excision revealed the presence of benign papillomas in 43 cases, no residual lesion in 12 cases, atypical papillomas in seven cases, and papillary ductal carcinoma in situ in two cases. The upgrade rates to atypical papilloma and to malignancy were 10.9% (7/64; 95% CI, 4.51–21.3%) and 3.1% (2/64; 95% CI, 0.38–10.8%), respectively. Mean lesion size was significantly larger for lesions that were upgraded to malignancies (1.4 cm vs 0.9 cm) (p = 0.04). Age, distance from the nipple, and ultrasound findings were not significantly associated with underestimation of atypical lesions or malignancies after excision (p > 0.05).

Our results show that the upgrade rate to malignancy determined by surgery for ultrasound-detected benign papillomas at core needle biopsy was 3.1% (2/64). Accordingly, for the accurate diagnosis of ultrasound-detected benign papillomas at core needle biopsy, surgical excision is recommended.


HOWEVER - the patient group was not subdivided by pre-operative diagnosis, including atypical cases, which skews the data.

For a fuller picture, check the breadth of opinion on the data for this subject