Marking

Presurgical marking of a suspicious lesion using a marking needle or an anchor under ultrasound or mammography / stereotactic guidance, which helps reduce the extent of surgery. The marking needle guides the surgeon using a conservative method to reach the suspicious site visualized on a mammogram. Marking is performed in nonpalpable lesions and lesions that are hardly visible on ultrasound. Such lesions usually contain the so-called microcalcifications (deposits of calcium in tissues) that may be an early sign of malignant transformation in the breast. Microcalcifications, which are less than 0.5 mm in diameter, occur in clusters of at least five, and can be visualized only on mammography.