title: Imperfect correlation of mammographic and clinical breast tissue density.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Clinicians determine degree of mammographic density based on tissue firmness on breast examination. The study aimed to compare breast density in mammography and clinical breast examination.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six-hundred sixty three women 40 years of age or older were studied. The breast exam density was graded from 1 to 4 by two expert surgeons and the mammographic parenchymal density by two expert radiologists. Then for practical reasons, grades 1 and 2 were considered as low-density and grades 3 and 4 as high-density.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High and low densities were detected in 84.5% and 15.5% of clinical breast examinations and 59.7% and 40.3% of mammographies, respectively. The statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the breast tissue densities in breast examination with those in mammography.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A clinically dense breast does not necessarily imply a dense mammographic picture.
authors.affiliation: Surgery Department, Arash Women's Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. sadafalipour@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Sadaf
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alipour
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bayani
authors.forename: Azin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saberi
authors.forename: Afsaneh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alikhassi
authors.forename: Ladan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.forename: Bita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eslami
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001940:Breast / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000071060:Breast Density; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000517:prevention & control; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D042361:Mammary Glands, Human / Q000002:abnormalities*; D008327:Mammography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D055815:Young Adult