Ultrasound as a complement to mammography and breast examination to characterize breast masses.
This study was designed to determine if complementary ultrasound (US) imaging and Doppler could decrease the number of biopsies for benign masses. A total of 761 breast masses were sequentially scored on a level of suspicion (LOS) of 1-5, where 1 represented low, and 5 was a high suspicion of malignancy, for mammography, US, and color flow with pulse Doppler (DUS). After biopsy, the results were analyzed using 2 x 2 contingency tables and ROC analysis, for mammography alone and in combination with US and DUS. The addition of US increased the specificity from 51.4% to 66.4% at a prevalence of 31.3% malignancy. ROC analysis showed that the addition of US significantly improved the performance over mammography alone in women < 55 years old (p = 0.049); > 55 years old (p = 0.029); masses < 1 cm (p = 0.016) and masses > 1 cm (p = 0.016). These results show that the addition of US to mammography alone could substantially reduce the number of breast biopsies for benign disease.
Taylor
Kenneth J W
KJ
Radiology, Ob/Gyn & Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. Kenneth.Taylor@yale.edu
Merritt
Christopher
C
Piccoli
Catherine
C
Schmidt
Robert
R
Rouse
Glenn
G
Fornage
Bruno
B
Rubin
Eva
E
Georgian-Smith
Dianne
D
Winsberg
Fred
F
Goldberg
Barry
B
Mendelson
Ellen
E
D001706:Biopsy; D001940:Breast / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016504:Breast Self-Examination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016217:Ultrasonography, Mammary