Pathological assessment of nonpalpable breast lesions.

Effective pathological examination of breast specimens from patients with nonpalpable radiologically detected lesions requires close cooperation among the pathologist, surgeon, and radiologist. Whenever possible, excision of the lesion should be documented by specimen radiography of the intact excisional biopsy. Diagnosis of the lesion and evaluation of margins should be based on permanent paraffin sections. Frozen section examination is not recommended routinely but may be employed in exceptional circumstances. Thermal damage to the tissue caused by electrocautery scalpels can reduce hormone receptor levels and can interfere with histological diagnosis.