“Harms” Associated with Breast Cancer Screening and Reliability of Frozen Section in Older Women: In the Case of an 80 Year Old Woman

• Published in: Reports (MDPI) Vol. 3; no. 2; p. 15
• Main Authors: Antoniou, Evangelia, Zervoudis, Stefanos, Vouxinou, Andriani, Bothou, Anastasia, Markja, Anisa, Orovou, Eirini, Tsikouras, Panagiotis, Iatrakis, Georgios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 01-06-2020
• Subjects: Breast cancer; breast cancer screening; Cancer screening; DCIS; Diagnosis; frozen section; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mammography; Methods; MRI; Greece
• ISSN: 2571-841X; 2571-841X
• DOI: 10.3390/reports3020015

The objective of this paper is to present a rare case with negative final histologic examination despite abnormal findings of all previous exams indicating breast cancer in an 80 year old woman. Mammographic and magnetic resonance imaging findings were concordant with the frozen section biopsy result of DCIS. However, the final histologic diagnosis was radial scar (benign breast lesion that can radiologically mimic malignancy). As a conclusion, abnormal mammographic and magnetic resonance imaging findings with positive for DCIS frozen section reports are not always confirmed in the final histologic examination. Furthermore, considering that screening does not seem to be associated with a reduction in mortality due to breast cancer after the age of 75, breast cancer screening could be individualized in this age group.