Introduction
Our current practice in the investigation of micro-calcification is to perform fine needle aspiration (FNA), with immediate results, and vacuum-assisted core biopsy (VACB), which was introduced in April 2007. The British Association Of Surgical Oncology 2006/2007 audit reported fewer centres using cytology alone for diagnosis of screen-detected cancer. We assessed the contribution of FNA to non-operative diagnosis of microcalcification, and the benefit to women in having immediate FNA results. We also investigated the effect of introducing VACB, rather than core biopsy for sampling microcalcification, on the number of repeat cores, and on the non-operative diagnosis of microcalcification.