[Correlation between clinical examination, mammography and ultrasonography with histopathological exam in the determination of tumor size in breast cancer].
OBJECTIVE
to evaluate which method is the best to determine pre-surgically the size of breast cancer: clinical examination, mammography or ultrasonography, using as a reference the anatomopathological exam.


METHODS
this study has included 184 patients with palpable-or-not breast lesions, detected by mammography and ultrasonography, that were submitted to surgical resection of the tumor, with histopathological diagnosis of breast cancer. The same examiner evaluated clinically the largest tumoral diameter, through clinical examination, mammography and ultrasonography, and the measurements obtained by each method were correlated with the maximum diameter obtained by the anatomopathological exam. The comparative analysis has been done by Pearson's correlation coefficient (r).


RESULTS
Pearson's correlation coefficient between the anatomopathological and the clinical exams was 0.8; between the anatomopathological exam and the mammography, 0.7; and between anatomopathological exam and ultrasonography 0.7 (p<0.05). Pearson's correlation coefficients among the methods evaluated were also calculated and r=0.7 was obtained between clinical exam and mammography, r=0.8 between clinical examination and ultrasonography, and r=0.8 between mammography and ultrasonography (p<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
clinical examination, mammography and ultrasonography have presented high correlation with the anatomopathological measures, besides high correlations among themselves, what seems to show that they may be used as equivalent methods in the pre-surgical evaluation of the breast tumoral size. Nevertheless, due to specific limitations of each method, clinical examination, mammography and ultrasonography should be seen as complementary to each other, in order to obtain a more accurate measurement of the breast cancer tumor.
Siqueira
Fernanda Monteiro de Paula
FM
Departamento de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. fersiqueira75@yahoo.com.br
Rezende
Cezar Alencar de Lima
CA
Barra
Alexandre de Almeida
Ade A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination; D011300:Preoperative Care; D014463:Ultrasonography