Encircling guidewire facilitates complete excision of image-localized breast lesions

Background An innovative encircling guidewire defines three sides of a target lesion with a single puncture to achieve negative margins. Methods Twenty-five patients requiring image-guided surgery were localized with an encircling guidewire.. Although the deployed wire is circular, it is straight when placed, using a straight outer needle. After image-guided placement of the wire around the lesion, all patients underwent standard surgical excision. Each patient was categorized by proper localization of the target lesion, presence of negative margins, closest margin, and need for reexcision. Results The circlewire wire identified the target lesion in all cases. There were no complications relative to either version of the leading tip on the guidewire. Negative margins were achieved in all pure invasive ductal carcinomas. Positive margins were found in all 3 patients with extensive noncalcified in-situ disease and 1 patient with multifocal invasive lobular carcinoma. Conclusions An innovative encircling localizing guidewire device gives the surgeon a new option to completely remove a nonpalpable breast lesion.