Fig. 1: Potential steps in the assessment of an abnormal breast cancer screening result for a woman undergoing open biopsy. Not all steps are required to arrive at a diagnosis. [Intervals are not drawn to scale.] Bold boxes indicate the start and end points of assessment intervals studied. *May include physical breast examination, fine-needle aspiration or referral, or a combination. †Depending on practice patterns, core biopsy may be performed before, after or without surgical consultation.