Background/aim: Breast lesions that are not palpable on physical examination but considered suspicious for malignancy on mammography or ultrasonography should be marked before surgery. Wire-guided localization (WGL) is the most frequently used method for preoperative marking of nonpalpable breast lesions (NPBLs). An alternative is marking by a radioactive agent (radio-guided occult lesion localization; ROLL). The present study aimed to compare WGL and ROLL for preoperative marking.
Materials and methods: The study included 25 patients marked by ROLL and 11 patients marked by WGL. The groups were compared in terms of patient and lesion characteristics, method-related characteristics, hospital stay duration, complications, cosmetic outcomes, and rate of correct marking.
Results: Suspicious lesions were marked with a success rate of 95.6% by ROLL and 100% by WGL. Complications and pain sensation rates were found significantly lower in the ROLL group compared to WGL. Although ROLL was considered more advantageous in terms of hospital stay duration, positive surgical margins, cosmetic outcomes, and excision duration, the differences between the groups were not statistically significant.
Conclusion: ROLL, which is a simple, comfortable, and reliable method, could be used as an alternative to the WGL in preoperative marking of NPBLs.
Keywords: Nonpalpable breast lesion; SPECT-CT; radio-guided occult lesion localization; wire-guided localization.