Currently, more than a third of all breast cancers are nonpalpable at diagnosis, and this proportion is expected to increase owing to the expansion of effective breast-screening programmes. Surgical excision combined with axillary staging is the standard of care for patients with nonpalpable breast cancers, and requires accurate localization of the primary tumour prior to resection. This Review provides an overview of the various techniques available for the localization and surgical management of nonpalpable breast cancer, their advantages and disadvantages, and future directions for the development of new technologies.
- Muneer Ahmed
- Isabel T. Rubio
- Michael Douek
