Breast biopsies on outpatients.

One hundred and three excisional biopsies of breast masses were done on an outpatient basis under local anesthesia. The criteria for selecting patients were such that only two malignant tumors were found, and 101 unnecessary hospital admissions were avoided. A large majority of patients responding to our survey accepted or even preferred the outpatient, local anesthetic technique. Thirteen of 16 patients who had previous inpatient biopsies under general anesthesia preferred biopsy as an outpatient under local anesthesia. This idea is not new, but new economic and social conditions as well as developing diagnostic techniques now increase its potential value.