Additional Breast Ultrasound Examinations in Clustered Calcifications: for Improving Diagnostic Performance

Abstract

graphy were 88.9%, 12.0%, 57.4%, 59.3%, and 42.9% and those for additional ultrasound were 94.4%, 64.0%, 82.0%, 79.1%, and 88.9%, respectively. The differences of specificity and accuracy were statistically significant (p=0.0003). On the ROC analysis, ACU were significantly different between mammography (AUC=0.586, 95% CI=0.453-0.711) and ultrasound (AUC=0.823, 95% CI=0.704-0.909) (p=0.003). Clustered calcifications with associated masses or ductal changes on additional breast ultrasound had high frequency of malignancies, 79% or 73%. In addition, 87% of malignant masses were invasive carcinomas and 45% of malignant ductal changes were ductal carcinomas in situ. Conclusion: Additional breast ultrasound examinations for the lesions with clustered calcifications on mammography can improve the diagnostic performance and significantly contribute to the specificity and accuracy of a diagnosis of breast carcinoma. In addition, the ultrasound features may predict the pathologic findings such as benignity or malignancy and invasive carcinoma or ductal carcinoma in situ.

Development and Validation of a Simple-to-Use Nomogram for Predicting the Upgrade of Atypical Ductal Hyperplasia on Core Needle Biopsy in Ultrasound-Detected Breast Lesions

“…Although mammography is the standard method for evaluating breast calcification, however, it is expensive to perform in developing countries. It is worth noting that US is also able to detect most microcalcifications (with a maximum diameter of 1 mm) that correlates well with mammography (30)(31)(32). To our knowledge, calcifications on US has never been demonstrated in the prediction of ADH before.…”

Breast Cancer Detection in a Screening Population: Comparison of Digital Mammography, Computer-Aided Detection Applied to Digital Mammography and Breast Ultrasound

“…In the current study, 90.7%(39/43) of cancers with calcifications only on FFDM or FFDM+CAD were detected on US as a mass with calcification, a ductal change with calcification, a ductal change, or a mass. According to Kim et al [ 25 ], because of increased specificity, breast US improves the diagnostic performance with regard to grouped calcifications without associated masses on mammography. On breast US, malignant calcifications are more commonly associated with a mass or a ductal change, and thus can be more easily detected rather than benign calcifications.…”

The Utility of MicroPure™ Ultrasound Technique in Assessing Grouped Microcalcifications without a Mass on Mammography

“…Mammography is the gold standard for evaluation of microcalcifications, but has low specificity in terms of assessing grouped microcalcifications. Kim et al [ 4 ] evaluated the utility of performing additional breast ultrasound (US) examinations in grouped microcalcifications for 61 pathologically verified breast lesions. They reported that additional breast US improves the specificity and accuracy of the diagnosis of breast carcinoma.…”