Benefits and Risks- Needle Localizations

Benefits

• Presurgical needle localization allows a surgeon to remove the abnormal area with less surrounding normal tissue than if the surgery was performed without needle localization.
• Presurgery needle localization provides greater assurance that the abnormal area will be successfully removed at the time of surgery.

Risks

• The procedure may not be successful if abnormality does not show up well enough on mammography to guide the needle properly.
• Bleeding can occur whenever a needle is placed in the breast.
• Infection is a potential complication.
• If you have breast implants, the needle could potentially puncture the implant and so your Radiologist will need to determine if needle localization can be done.