Second Look Changes 20% of Breast Biopsy Results

The oft-repeated counsel to patients to get a second opinion applies to breast pathology too, a new study suggests.

The second opinion about a suspected breast cancer should be in the form of an “interinstitutional pathology consultation” (IPC) that includes a review by a specialized breast pathologist, the authors say.

“Specialized pathology is very important these days because there are so many advances in the field of pathology, and if you are not specialized, you will miss many of the new technologies and morphologies, new entities, etc, etc,” author Thaer Khoury, MD, from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, told Medscape Medical News.

The review of pathology reports for breast cancer can have a significant impact on patient care, Dr Khoury said.

In his study, a second look at the pathologic samples from needle biopsies that were sent to Roswell Park by outside institutions resulted in a change in 20% of the cases that were examined.

“These results underscore the need for a second review of the original pathologic material by a pathologist who specializes in breast cancer prior to the implementation of breast cancer therapy,” he said.

The study was published online April 15 in the Breast Journal.