Tissue Diagnosis
What is a tissue diagnosis?
A tissue diagnosis is a way that physicians can confirm breast cancer. Cancer is diagnosed by confirming the presence of cancer cells in a tissue sample taken via biopsy.
What performance benchmarks rely on tissue diagnoses?
The Mammologix Medical Audit has several performance benchmarks. True positives, true negatives, false positives, and false negatives all rely on a tissue diagnosis of cancer (or lack thereof) to assign a patient's case to one of the four previously mentioned measures. To learn more about these benchmarks, visit Mammologix's informational articles on True Positives, True Negatives, False Positives, and False Negatives.
What BI-RADS categories require a tissue diagnosis of cancer to be assigned to a patient?
BI-RADS category 6 (known biopsy-proven malignant) requires a patient to have a confirmed tissue diagnosis of breast cancer before the patient can be assigned to this category.
What BI-RADS categories recommend tissue diagnosis as follow-up management after an assessment?
According to the ACR BI-RADS Atlas, BI-RADS categories 4 and 5 recommend the interpreting physician obtain a biopsy sample from the patient to allow for tissue diagnosis of cancer.
How is a tissue diagnosis of cancer conducted?
A biopsy sample is used to make a tissue diagnosis of breast cancer. When the patient receives a biopsy (whether by stereotactic core, needle-guided, surgical, etc.), the tissue sample is sent to a laboratory for analysis. The pathologist then examines the tissue and determines whether cancer cells are present within the sample. If cancer cells are present, a tissue diagnosis of cancer can be made.
Sources:
National Breast Cancer Foundation. (n.d.). Breast Biopsy. BreastCancer. https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-biopsy
Sickles, EA, D'Orsi CJ, Bassett LW, et al. (2013). ACR Bl-RADS Mammography. In: ACR Bl-RADS Atlas, Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System. American College of Radiology. https://www.acr.org/Clinical-Resources/Reporting-and-Data-Systems/Bi-Rads#Mammography