The aim of this study was to achieve early detection, accurate diagnosis and adequate management of suspicious non-palpable breast lesions.

From January 1998 to March 2002, 86 cases of ultrasonoguided needle biopsies, 121 cases of mammographically guided needle localization biopsies and 75 cases of ultrasonographically guided needle localization biospsies were performed for a total of 282 cases of nonpalpable breast lesions.

The age of patients ranged from 30 to 71 years with a mean age of 46.4 years. 56 cases out of a total 282 cases (20%) were found to be malignant (39.3% of those malignancies were carcinomas in situ, and 60.7% were invasive carcinomas). On a mammogram, 15.1% of the microcalcifications were found to be malignant. 31.6% of mass-like lesions and 20% of masses with microcalcifications were found to be malignant. On an ultrasonogram, 42.7% of the microcalcifications were found to be malignant. 21.1% of mass-like lesions, 30% of intraductal masses, and 31.6% of masses with microcalcifications were found to be malignant. 73.5% of all the cases of non-palpable breast cancer were found in stage 0 or 1.

Non-palpable breast cancers are smaller in size and have lower chances of axillary lymph node involvement compared to palpable breast cancers. Because it is non-palpable an early diagnosis is hard to achieve. However, once an early diagnosis is made, it could result in better prognosis. Therefore, the selection of adequate diagnostic modalities, the development of better localization methods, and training of precise surgical skill are important.