Development of wire localization for occult breast lesions: Boston remembrances

Abstract

In the 1970s, the four authors of this article each set up mammographic screening programs and independently developed preoperative needle-wire localization techniques at different Boston-area hospitals. These innovations, which facilitated surgical biopsy of nonpalpable abnormalities, helped establish and popularize mammography and have only minimally changed over the ensuing decades. This historical perspective shares personal anecdotes of the early development of mammography and mammographic wire localizations.