The significance of ultrasound-guided localization of nonpalpable breast lesions using carbon suspension

Purpose To evaluate the utility of ultrasound-guided tattooing localization of the nonpalpable breast lesions with carbon suspension. Patients and methods This study is a prospective analysis study for 35 patients with main age about 49.7 +/- 8 years old which had nonpalpable breast lesions for preoperative localization at the period from October 2020 till November 2022. Results Thirty-five female patients with mean age 49.7 +/- 8 years had 35 nonpalpable breast lesions seen at upper-outer quadrant in 14 (40%) patients, retroareolar region at 11 (31.4%) patients, lower outer quadrant in four (11.6%) cases, lower inner quadrant in three (8.6%) patients and upper inner quadrant in three (8.6%) patients. The lesions size ranged 10-22mm with mean size about 15 +/- 3 mm. The localization procedure take time ranging from 20 to 30 min with mean time about 24.1 min. The duration of the charcoal localization before operation ranging from 1 to 5 days with mean time about 1.8 days. The main complication noted by the charcoal localization technique is pain. Pain was associated with 11.4% of all studied cases while 88.6% had no complications. The localization by charcoal suspension was effective in 33 (94.3%) cases, while only two (5.7%) cases could not be localized. Conclusion Localization of nonpalpable breast lesion under US Guidance by Injection of Charcoal Solution is a very simple, safe, and accurate method.