Percutaneous extraction of a biopsy-site marker clip using a vacuum-assisted biopsy device

In Search of the Lost Clip: Outcome of Women After Needle-Guided Lumpectomy of a Marking Clip

BACKGROUND

Needle localization of a marking clip is required to guide accurate removal of many breast lesions. When the clip is not visualized on specimen radiography, concerns regarding the completeness of cancer removal and long-term outcomes arise. Using a large cohort of women undergoing breast conservation, we examined the magnitude of the problem and the outcome of women with a missing clip.

METHODS

We conducted a case-control study including all women undergoing mammographic wire-guided localization between 2013 and 2018 with a specimen radiograph showing a missing clip. The control group included women with successful removal of the clip(s). Data included demographics, cancer and treatment characteristics, and outcome. The groups were compared in regard to margin status, repeat surgery, and recurrence rates.

RESULTS

The research group included 43 women [5% of the cohort; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.9-7.2] with a missing clip. Positive margins were comparable (7, 17% of cases; 29, 15% of 196 cases in the control group; p = 0.96). Eleven women (33%) had a residual clip visualized on post-operative mammography; in four cases, a percutaneous biopsy of the clip was successful, all with no residual tumor. There was no significant difference in re-excision rates (14% vs. 8%, p = 0.23) or in local or distant recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

In the majority of women with a missing clip, the clip is not visualized on post-operative mammography. Those with a residual clip can be managed with percutaneous biopsy as long as the lesion was removed with clear margins, with comparable outcomes as women in whom the clip is visualized on specimen radiograph.

Intraoperative loss of core biopsy clips: clinical implications

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to report the occurrence of intraoperative loss of metallic marking clips placed during image-guided biopsy and to hypothesize the likely mechanism of this clinical problem.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From January 2003 through December 2004, patients presenting for preoperative mammographic localization and operative excision of biopsy site marking clips were identified. Age, method of image-guided biopsy, number of excised specimens, and tissue diagnosis were determined. Specimen radiographs were used to identify cases of suspected intraoperative clip loss. Clips absent on specimen radiographs and postoperative mammograms were defined as lost intraoperatively. Biopsy site marking clips, surgical clips, and suction device apertures were measured.

RESULTS

In 78 surgical procedures performed during the study period, three (3.8%) of the patients experienced clip loss. Specimen radiographs confirmed the absence of clips in all submitted tissues. A median of four (range, three to five) separate biopsy specimens were excised among these three cases. A healing biopsy site from the stereotactic biopsy preceding the clip placement procedure was confirmed in all cases. Absence of the metallic clip was confirmed on postoperative mammograms. The apertures of two types of suction device were four and two times those of the biopsy clips.

CONCLUSION

Intraoperative loss of metallic clips placed at the conclusion of image-guided breast biopsy is unusual but can occur during subsequent surgical excision. Repeated inability to locate the clip on specimen radiographs after accurate preoperative localization should raise the suspicion that the target clip has been lost, not missed, during surgery, likely because of inadvertent removal of the clip with the suction device.

Movement of a biopsy-site marker clip after completion of stereotactic directional vacuum-assisted breast biopsy: case report

A 51-year-old woman underwent stereotactic core biopsy of suspicious microcalcifications in the upper outer left breast with subsequent metallic clip deployment. Postprocedure mammograms demonstrated accurate placement of the clip. However, mammography 10 months later revealed movement of the clip 4 cm medially in the breast.