Preoperative Localisation of Impalpable Breast Lesions

It is now well established that mammography is a sensitive technique for the detection of impalpable breast lesions and it is the only screening method commonly accepted to be of any real value. In the aftermath of the Forrest report (1) a limited mammography screening programme has been established in the UK. This will mean that many more women, of whom a majority will be asymptomatic, will present with a suspicious abnormality that the surgeon is unable to palpate even when he is aware of its location on the mammogram. The abnormality will usually be a mass like lesion or a focus of microcalcification.