title: Ultrasound can estimate the pathologic size of infiltrating ductal carcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ultrasound (US) of the breast will accurately measure breast tumor size when compared with size as determined by pathologic examination.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective case series.
  
  
  METHODS
  University hospital-based breast center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-five women with a diagnosis of breast cancer who had US as a component of their evaluation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Tumor size as measured by US compared with size measured by pathologic examination.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Size measured by US ranged from 0.45 to 3.81 cm. Size measured by pathologic examination ranged from 0.5 to 5 cm. The mean difference of size measured by US vs pathologic size was 0.4 cm (P = .01). When only tumors with invasive ductal histology are evaluated, the mean difference in size is 0.33 cm (P = .008). The range of difference was -1.6 cm to +0.42 cm. Seventeen percent of invasive ductal tumors were underestimated by more than 1 cm; none were underestimated by more than 2 cm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates that, although US tends to underestimate the pathologic tumor size, 83% of invasive ductal tumors fall within a 1-cm and 100% fall within a 2-cm extension of the US-measured tumor size. Therefore, it is possible to use US to monitor the extent of treatment size when developing very localized therapeutic tools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80262, USA. christina.finlayson@uchsc.edu
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Finlayson
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: MacDermott
mesh_terms: D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014463:Ultrasonography