Women who have breast biopsies to diagnose cancer might want to think twice about the results of the procedures, according to a new study led by University of Washington researchers.
Pathologists across the U.S. being tested for their accuracy got the same results as a panel of experts only about 75 percent of the time, a variability in opinion that could have a direct effect on the way women are treated — or not — for potential breast cancer.
About 1.6 million women in the U.S. have breast biopsies each year, and about 80 percent come back normal. But the remaining results may not be as valid as expected, said Dr. Joann G. Elmore, a UW professor of general medicine and epidemiology who led the study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“We are perhaps doing some biopsies thinking that it will provide a definitive guidance and our study shows that might not be the case,” Elmore said.