Guidelines for Complications of Cancer Treatment Vol VIII Part B

postoperative wound infection following these commonlyperformed breast procedures.PMID: 8449845 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]9. Complications of mastectomy and theirrelationship to biopsy technique.Lipshy KA, Neifeld JP, Boyle RM, et al. Ann Surg Oncol.1996 May;3(3):290-4.BACKGROUND: Wound complication rates after mastectomyare associated with several factors, but little information isavailable correlating biopsy technique with the developmentof postmastectomy wound complications. Fine-needleaspiration (FNA) biopsy is an accurate method to establish adiagnosis, but it is unknown whether this approach has animpact on complications after mastectomy. METHODS:Charts of 283 patients undergoing 289 mastectomies werereviewed to investigate any association between biopsytechnique and postmastectomy complications. RESULTS: Thediagnosis of breast cancer was made by FNA biopsy in 50%,open biopsy in 49.7%, and core needle biopsy in 0.3%. Theoverall wound infection rate was 5.3% (14 of 266), but only1.6% when FNA biopsy was used compared with 6.9% withopen biopsy (p = 0.06). Among 43 patients undergoing breastreconstruction concomitantly with mastectomy, the infectionrate was 7.1% (0% after FNA, 12% after open biopsy). Neitherthe development of a postoperative seroma (9.8%) nor skinflap necrosis (5.6%) was influenced by the biopsy techniqueused. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that woundinfections after mastectomy may be reduced when thediagnosis of breast cancer is established by FNA biopsy.PMID: 8726185 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]18