Practice Patterns of Preoperative Breast and Axillary Localizations

Abstract

The goal of this survey was to study the current trends of preoperative breast and axillary needle localizations and to understand factors that affect these practice patterns. A 14-question survey was sent out to Society of Breast Imaging physicians on our institution's survey platform with a web link. Survey responses were summarized using percentages or means, and Pearson's chi square test and analysis of variance tests were used for association. The survey response rate was 401 of 2097 (19.1%). Of these responses, 124 of 401 (30.9%) were in academic practice, 222 of 401 (55.4%) in private practice with breast specialization, 24 of 401 (6.0%) in private practice without breast specialization, and 31 of 401 (7.7%) in other types of practices. The use of radioactive seeds was significantly correlated with the practice type, with academic practices more likely to use radioactive seeds. Practices with a higher number of radiologists reading mammography and a higher number of radiologists with breast fellowship training were more likely to use wireless localization devices. Additionally, there was a significant positive correlation between the number of fellowship-trained breast radiologists in a practice, and modalities utilized for localizing breast lesions. This study demonstrates that localization methods for breast and axillary lesions vary across practice types. Academic practices are more likely to utilize wireless localization devices. These findings suggest that there may be barriers for smaller and less specialized practices in implementing the use of newer localization methods.