Comparing Vacuum-Assisted Percutaneous Excision to Open Surgical Excision for Borderline or High-Risk Breast Lesions

Efficacy, Safety, Cosmesis and Patient Satisfaction With Vacuum-Assisted Percutaneous Excision (VAPE) Compared With Standard Surgical Excision (X) of Non-malignant, Borderline or High-risk Breast Lesions: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This randomized controlled trial compares vacuum-assisted percutaneous excision to open standard surgical excision in women who have high-risk or borderline, non-malignant breast lesions with respect to efficacy, safety, cosmesis and patient satisfaction.

In women diagnosed with high-risk or borderline, non-malignant breast lesions, is vacuum-assisted percutaneous excision (VAPE) comparable to open standard surgical excision with respect to efficacy, safety, cosmesis and patient satisfaction?

With the increase in breast imaging for screening there has been corresponding rise in detection of high-risk/borderline, non-malignant breast lesions that require surgical excision to confirm diagnosis and rule out underlying malignancy. Image-guided vacuum-assisted percutaneous excision (VAPE) could offer an alternative to standard open surgical excision for complete excision of these lesions with a possible improvement in patient satisfaction and cosmetic outcomes and decreased complications.

In this single-centre, non-inferiority designed prospective randomized, open label controlled trial, women over 18 years who are found to have a borderline or high-risk, non-malignant breast lesions on core needle biopsy will be considered eligible. Exclusion criteria will be women with a greater than 25% lifetime risk of breast cancer, patients whose pathology and imaging are discordant, and those with extensive calcifications extending over 2cm, a mass larger than 2 cm, or lesions with high-risk features. Informed consent will be obtained and patients will be randomized to standard surgical excision or VAPE. They will then be followed with imaging as appropriate.

The primary outcome measure is the incidence of complete removal of the lesion. The secondary outcome measures are patient satisfaction, cosmetic outcomes and complications such as bleeding and infection.

This trial is the first randomized controlled trial to investigate the role of VAPE compared to standard surgical excision as a means of completely excising borderline or high-risk breast, non-malignant breast lesions. The investigators hypothesize that VAPE will show comparable efficacy and may even have improved safety, cosmesis and patient satisfaction.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Women over age 18 with a core biopsy proven borderline or high-risk breast lesion that requires further excision for management based on the surgeon's assessment
• Informed consent must be obtained.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Women who are considered high-risk based on a greater than 25% lifetime risk of breast cancer as per the IBIS (International Breast Cancer Intervention Study) Breast Cancer Risk Evaluation Tool
• Pathology that is felt to be discordant with imaging
• Extensive calcifications extending more than 20 mm and/or masses greater than 30 mm
• The following lesions will be excluded based on their increased risk of upstaging; lesions (other than fibroadenomas, phyllodes and papillomas) that are associated with a palpable mass, ADH (atypical ductal hyperplasia) with high-risk features (ADH with zonal necrosis, significant cytological atypia or more than 2 foci), LCIS (lobular carcinoma in situ) with high-risk features (associated with ADH, pleomorphic LCIS, zonal necrosis and > 4 foci) or discordant with imaging, papilloma with atypia, and spindle cell lesion (especially if there is atypia).
• Lesions that are suspicious for borderline or malignant Phyllodes, DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), invasive mammary carcinoma, or encapsulated papillary carcinoma
• Any lesion that either the radiologist, pathologist or surgeon feels is not amenable to VAPE or surgical excision