The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of 14- and 12-gauge needles for obtaining biopsy specimens under stereotactic guidance. The authors compared the biopsies of nonpalpable breast lesions using these different size needles, regarding the length of the fragments obtained and the types of diagnosed lesions. A total of 1,009 samples were obtained using 14-gauge (900 samples) and 12-gauge (109 samples) needles. The size of the samples was evaluated on the first 700 consecutive biopsies using 14-gauge needles. The use of 12-gauge needles consistently provided larger size specimens than 14-gauge needles (p < 0.001); a reduction in the prevalence of benign nonneoplastic lesions (p = 0.03) and a higher frequency of in situ and invasive carcinomas (p < 0.001) were also observed. These findings may suggest a higher diagnostic accuracy of biopsies performed with 12-gauge needles due to the larger samples obtained and/or due to a better radiological selection of those lesions, which were detected by digital mammography and biopsied under digital stereotactic guidance.

Keywords: Stereotactic core needle biopsy, Breast cancer, 14-gauge needle, 12-gauge needle