Probably benign breast lesions on ultrasonography: a retrospective review of ultrasonographic features and clinical factors affecting the BI-RADS categorization.
BACKGROUND
The retrospective review of probably benign lesions on mammograms is well investigated. Although suspicious malignant ultrasonography (US) features have been detected on retrospective reviews of US examinations, the review of probably benign lesions on US is rarely studied.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate how many probably benign lesions on US fulfilled the published criteria and to evaluate how clinical and personal factors influenced the categorization of breast lesions.


METHODS
A total of 920 nodules in 920 women with more than 24 months follow-up after the initial category 3 assessment on US or excision were included. We retrospectively reviewed the initial US images according to previously published criteria, and evaluated several factors that could influence the characterization of breast lesions in clinical practice such as age, multiplicity, palpability, radiologist's experience, and lesion size.


RESULTS
Of 920 lesions, 906 (98.5%) were benign and 14 (1.5%) were malignant. Of 920 lesions, 376 (40.9%) including 13 malignancies were reassessed as category 4. If strict criteria had been applied at initial US examination, the positive biopsy rate would have been only 3.5% (13/376) and 96.5% (363 of 376) biopsies would have been unnecessary. Lesions in women 40 years or older and multiple lesions were more frequently reassessed as category 4 (P<0.00 and P=0.01, respectively). The presence of palpability, lesion size, and the radiologist's experience did not significantly influence the categorization of breast lesions on US. Of 920 probably benign lesions, 40.9% could be classified as category 4 lesions when strict criteria were applied in initial practice.


CONCLUSIONS
The multiplicity of the lesion and the patient's age were found to have a significant influence on the classification of probably benign solid masses.
Moon
Hee Jung
HJ
Department of Radiology, Research Institute of Radiological Science, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kim
Min Jung
MJ
Kwak
Jin Young
JY
Kim
Eun-Kyung
EK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010173:Palpation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016217:Ultrasonography, Mammary