Experience with ultrasonographically guided vacuum-assisted resection of benign breast tumors

N. Tagaya, A. Nakagawa, Y. Ishikawa, T. Oyama and K. Kubota
Clinical Radiology 63, Issue 4, April 2008, Pages 396-400

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Aim - To evaluate the feasibility and safety of vacuum-assisted resection of benign breast tumours using an 8 G handheld device.

Materials and Methods - Over a 2-year period, 22 patients with 26 breast tumours diagnosed as benign using aspiration biopsy cytology were enrolled. The mean patient age was 38 years, and the mean maximal diameter of the tumour was 13 mm. A handheld Aloka SSD 6500 ultrasonography device with a linear-type 7.5 MHz transducer was inserted into the posterior aspect of the tumour with the patient under local anaesthesia, and the tumour was resected under ultrasonographic guidance.

Results - This method was employed successfully in all patients, and the mean operation time was 33 min. Post-procedure complications included subcutaneous bleeding in 12 cases and haematoma in one. The pathological diagnoses were fibroadenoma in 16 cases, mastopathy in six, and tubular adenoma and pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia in two cases each, respectively. Follow-up ultrasonography revealed residual tumours in four cases (15.4%).

Conclusions - Although this method is feasible and safe without severe complications, it is necessary to select appropriate patients, and to obtain informed consent regarding the possibility of recurrence or residual tumour.

MammoGrid — a prototype distributed mammographic database for Europe

MammoGrid — a prototype distributed mammographic database for Europe
R. Warren, A.E. Solomonides, C. del Frate, I. Warsi, J. Ding, M. Odeh, R. McClatchey, C. Tromans, M. Brady, R. Highnam, et al.
Clinical Radiology 62 (11): 1044-1051

This paper describes the prototype for a Europe-wide distributed database of mammograms entitled MammoGrid, which was developed as part of an EU-funded project. The MammoGrid database appears to the user to be a single database, but the mammograms that comprise it are in fact retained and curated in the centres that generated them. Linked to each image is a potentially large and expandable set of patient information, known as metadata. Transmission of mammograms and metadata is secure, and a data acquisition system has been developed to upload and download mammograms from the distributed database, and then annotate them, rewriting the annotations to the database. The user can be anywhere in the world, but access rights can be applied. The paper aims to raise awareness among radiologists of the potential of emerging “grid” technology (“the second-generation Internet”).

Mammographic bi-dimensional product: a powerful predictor of successful excision of ductal carcinoma in situ

Mammographic bi-dimensional product: a powerful predictor of successful excision of ductal carcinoma in situ
A. Evans, K. Clements, A. Maxwell, H. Dobson, M. Wallis, G. Lawrence, H. Bishop and On behalf of the Sloane Project Steering Group
Clinical Radiology 62 (8): 787-791

The aim of this analysis was to ascertain whether uni-dimensional measurement of mammographic microcalcification, the product of bi-dimensional measurement, calcification morphology, and pathological grade are helpful in predicting successful single therapeutic wide local excision (WLE) of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).
The mammographic bi-dimensional product is a powerful predictor of successful WLE of DCIS when combined with histological grade and/or calcification morphology.