Advanced breast biopsy instrumentation (ABBI) experiences and critical comments

Advanced breast biopsy instrumentation (ABBI) experiences and critical comments. To describe our three-years' experience with advanced breast biopsy instrumentation (ABBI). Considering lesion size, type and location as well as patient specific criteria 89 patients were selected for an ABBI. The documented data like duration, complication and change of the procedure, size of the lesions and biopsy cannulas, histologic outcome and further treatment were analysed retrospectively. ABBI was successful in 63 of 89 patients. Cancer was found in 18 patients (29 %) with a surgical re-excision to achieve tumour-free margins in 89 %. 45 patients had benign lesions (71 %) with a benign to malignant ratio of 2.5 : 1. ABBI was unsuccessful or had to be replaced by other biopsy techniques in 26 patients (29 %). In four of these patients the localization needle was already placed. Analysing the three-year period ABBI frequency dropped each year with an overall reduction of 63 %. Despite a good benign to malignant ratio the surgical re-excision rate in cancer patients is disappointing. Although using precise selection criteria for ABBI the rate of failed biopsies and changeover to another biopsy procedure was too high. The reduction of ABBI procedures during the three-year period is assumed to be an expression of the negative experiences with the method but also a refusal of the assigning colleagues to use ABBI. For the evaluation of suspected breast lesions ABBI is too invasive and too expensive. On the other hand ABBI is too ineffective as a therapeutic tool to remove suspected lesions. Therefore it is not warranted to use ABBI instead of other concurrent biopsy techniques.