Mammogram-directed fine-needle aspiration of nonpalpable breast lesions

A prospective study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of mammogram directed fine‐needle aspiration cytology in women with nonpalpable abnormalities detected on mammogram. Seventy patients were entered into the research protocol, with 61 patients undergoing mammogram directed fine‐needle aspiration. Forty‐three of the aspirates were adequate for diagnosis. Fine‐needle aspiration yielded an accurate diagnosis in 12 of the 14 carcinomas in which the sample was considered adequate, for a sensitivity of 87%. No patients were falsely diagnosed with malignant disease, a specificity of 100%. The predictive value of a positive test was 100%, and that of a negative test was 93%. We conclude that fine‐needle aspiration cytology can aid in making a diagnosis when nonpalpable breast abnormalities are detected on mammogram.