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• Currently mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance are the best radiological imaging modalities for both diagnosis and local staging of breast cancer. To date, there is no evidence on the utility of other emerging diagnostic tools. • The results of imaging are very different if performed as screening procedures in asymptomatic women or as diagnostic procedure in a symptomatic patient. • Mammography is the best technique for a panoramic image; ultrasound is an essential component for localised symptoms and for guided tissue sampling. • Mammography is the technique of choice for a BC screening protocol, but MRI is the technique of choice for very young women at high risk.

• Before a woman is a patient, she is a woman with her own biography. • The way a woman looks at her breast is a good indicator of her degree of self-confidence. • Women generally overestimate their risk of developing BC and, as a consequence, overrate the benefits that may be gained from screening or preventive measures. • Although many women with a strong family history do not have an identified genetic mutation, their potential serious risk should be properly considered. • BRCA1 and BRCA2 do not have the same effects, and recent reports show BRCA2 carriers are associated with better survival and therapeutic response than BRCA1 carriers.

• Nonoperative diagnosis should become the norm in breast disease assessment. The aim of sampling procedures should be to fulfil the “triple diagnostic assessment” and achieve as near as possible 100 % nonoperative diagnosis of breast problems. • Automated core needle biopsy (CNB) is the sampling technique of first choice, to prefer over fine needle aspiration (FNA) because of fewer inadequate samples. In most cases, CNB accomplishes the same results of an open incisional biopsy. • Ultrasound guidance, if feasible, is the technique of first choice for biopsy of both palpable and impalpable breast lesions; it is less costly, easy to perform and more accurate than free-hand or other image-guided techniques. • Management of high-risk lesions remains controversial. The likelihood of atypical ductal hyperplasia or radial scar in association with BC is related to the size of the lesion and the age of the patient.