Cardiac injury during needle localized surgical breast biopsy.

Needle localized breast biopsy is commonly used to diagnose and remove non-palpable breast lesions. We present the first case of cardiac injury resulting from needle localized breast biopsy. A hooked-end monofilament wire penetrated the pericardium and myocardium overlying the left ventricle. The wire was pulled and the patient managed non-operatively with close monitoring that included plain chest radiographs, electrocardiography, and echocardiography. The literature regarding complications of the procedure was reviewed. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.