For the accurate diagnosis of non-palpable breast lesions with microcalcification, a localization and biopsy procedure should be performed by using mammography. Recently, a stereotactic vacuum-assisted biopsy has been reported as a convenient and accurate method for a procedure. This study was performed to determine whether the upright add-on type stereotactic biopsy was suitable for the diagnosis of microcalcified breast lesions in Korean women.

Between April 2002 and March 2003, an upright add-on type stereotactic vacuum-assisted biopsy was performed in 21 cases with microcalcification; that had been categorized from 2 to 5 according to the BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System). The microcalcified lesions in biopsy specimens were confirmed with tissue mammogram and a pathological review performed.

The pathological findings revealed fibrocystic changes in 15 cases, intraductal papilloma in 1 and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in 5. There were no malignancy among the BI-RADS category 2 & 3 cases, but DCIS was found in 2 (25%) out of 8 BI-RADS category 4 cases, and in all 3 (100%) of BI-RADS category 5 cases. The malignancy detection rate among the cases with microcalcification with a BI-RADS category above 4 was 45.4% (5/11).

An upright add-on type stereotactic vacuum assisted biopsy is an accurate, safe and very convenient tool for the diagnosis of breast lesions with microcalcification.