Atypical Lesions: To Excise or Not To Excise?

This lecture discusses challenges in diagnosing atypical breast lesions on core biopsies including flat epithelial atypia and lobular neoplasia. In the lecture, we will also review the classic and most current literature in helping guide management of these patients (i.e. close follow up versus referring the patient for surgical excision).

Lecture Presenter
H. Evin Gulbahce, MD, MSCI
Evin Gulbahce, MD
Medical Director, Surgical Pathology and Oncology, ARUP Laboratories
Professor of Pathology, University of Utah School of Medicine

Dr. Gulbahce is a professor of pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. She received her MD from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey, and completed a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology and a surgical pathology fellowship at the University of Minnesota, where she remained as a faculty member. Dr. Gulbahce is a member of the American Society of Cytopathology, the College of American Pathology, and the International Society of Breast Pathology, amongst others. Her research interests include breast cancer risk factors, pulmonary complications of solid organs, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Objectives

After this presentation, participants will be able to:

Review the histologic definitions of columnar cell lesions, flat epithelial atypia, and lobular neoplasia.
Understand the challenges in decision making (by review of literature) when it comes to referring the patient to surgical excision following an “atypical” lesion diagnosis on breast core biopsy.