Comparison of breast tumours evaluated by ultrasound, mammography, and clinical investigation

Abstract

One hundred eleven palpable breast tumours were evaluated clinically, by mammography, and by ultrasound; upon histological examination 51 of the tumours turned out to be malignant and 60 benign. In 44 tumours, which appeared malignant on the ultrasound scan, the axilla was also scanned and the findings were compared with the results of histological examination of excised lymph nodes. The diagnostic accuracy for malignancy of breast tumours was 86.3% for ultrasound scans, 80.4% for mammography, and 78.4% for clinical evaluation; the respective diagnostic accuracy for benign lesions was 88.3%, 85%, and 91.7%. Of 36 enlarged reactive or malignant lymph nodes, 32 were detected by ultrasound and only 18 by clinical examination.

Ultrasonography of Breast Lesions Detected in Mammography Screening

“…Breast cancers so examined have, however, often been large and/ or palpable (4,6,8). Many small, non-palpable breast cancers are detected at mammography screening (1,14,18).…”

Long-term follow-up of patients with biopsy-proven benign breast disease

“…Eleven invasive breast cancers subsequently developed in 11 of 365 patients during follow-up, the overall annual cancer incidence being 3.5 per 1000 observation years. Using the data of the tumor registration office in Basel, Switzerland (unpublished), we determined the number of cases of cancer that would have been expected to occur in our studied population according to our observation period and to the age-specific distribution of our population.…”

“…However, in numerous studies sensitivity has ranged from 31% to 91% and specificity from 51% to 98%. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] It was pointed out that the clinical and radiologic heterogeneity of the female breast is an important source of this wide range in reported efficacy of mammography. Breasts of premenopausal women and those with fibrocystic disease are more difficult to interpret roentgenographically than breasts of older subjects and those without fibrocystic disease.10 The patients in our study having mammograms during follow-up were younger and had more lumps than patients without mammograms.…”

Ultrasonography of Breast Lesions Detected in Mammography Screeningm

“…Breast cancers so examined have, however, often been large and/ or palpable (4,6,8). Many small, non-palpable breast cancers are detected at mammography screening (I, 14, 18).…”