[Vacuum-assisted stereotactic biopsy: experience of the regional cancer center of Caen].

Purpose: To report our experience with macrobiopsy under stereotaxy.
Materials and Methods: Retrospective study of 248 procedures in 236 patients for microcalcifications in 95% of cases. The macrobiopsies were performed under Mammotome for lesions graded ACR 3, ACR 4 and ACR 5 in 8.4%, 81.6% and 14.8% of cases respectively.
Results: From a technical point of view, 91% of procedures had no technical problem. The image guided excision was complete in 68% of cases with lesions less than 1 cm in size and in 6% of cases for lesions larger than 1 cm. The rate of a misdiagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ for patients with invasive carcinoma was 27% whereas the rate of a misdiagnosis of atypical ductal hyperplasia in patients with ductal carcinoma in situ was 25% knowing that patients with atypical ductal hyperplasia for which all microcalcifications had been fully removed by macrobiopsy and without risk factors did not undergo surgery.
Conclusion: Even if macrobiopsy of microcalcifications is a reliable method, its main limitation remains the risk of misdiagnosis of borderline lesions.