Thick-needle vacuum-assisted biopsy technique for inflammatory breast carcinoma diagnosis

Abstract

Purpose: Inflammatory breast carcinoma (IBC) is a rare clinicopathological cancer type with unique clinical features and a poor prognosis. In this disease, there is generally no palpable mass in the breast. IBC can be mistakenly diagnosed as mastitis and patients may receive a delayed diagnosis and treatment, since these two disorders cause similar pathological appearences on the breast. Clinical suspicion of the disease followed by histopathological observation of occluded dermal lympthatics by tumor emboli leads to definitive diagnosis of IBC. Methods: Here, we report our experiences in diagnosing IBC using Thick-Needle Aspiration Biopsy (TNAB). Results: Eight patients having clinically suspected IBC, received TNAB. IBC was definitively diagnosed upon observation in histopathological examination of occluded dermal lymphatics by tumor emboli since TNAB allowed adequate tissue sampling. Conclusion: In this study, we showed that IBC can be reliably diagnosed using TNAB.