Table 1 Reporting Categories of Needle Biopsies [2]

B1

Normal tissue or uninterpretable

Normal or unsatisfactory biopsy which is:

1) uninterpretable because of artefact*

2) composed of stroma only*

3) composed of normal breast tissue where normal appearances are felt to be inconsistent with findings on imaging and clinical examination*

B2

Benign

Usual ductal hyperplasia, sclerosing adenosis, fiboradenoma, involutionary calcification, periductal mastitis, hamartoma

B3

Benign but of uncertain biological potential

Papillomas, radial scars/complex sclerosing lesions, lobular intraepithelial neoplasia (LIN), atypical epithelial proliferation of ductal type (AEDT) depending on grade and extension sometimes B4, phylloides tumor

B4

Suspicious

Changes suggestive of in situ or invasive malignancy but a categorical diagnosis cannot be made because of artefact or because the appearances are borderline

B5

Malignant

a) in situ

b) invasive

c) uncertain whether in situ or invasive

d) other malignancies

Unequivocal malignant process