Ultrasound as a complement to mammography and breast examination to characterize breast masses

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2002 Jan;28(1):19-26. doi: 10.1016/s0301-5629(01)00491-4.

Abstract

This study was designed to determine if complementary ultrasound (US) imaging and Doppler could decrease the number of biopsies for benign masses. A total of 761 breast masses were sequentially scored on a level of suspicion (LOS) of 1-5, where 1 represented low, and 5 was a high suspicion of malignancy, for mammography, US, and color flow with pulse Doppler (DUS). After biopsy, the results were analyzed using 2 x 2 contingency tables and ROC analysis, for mammography alone and in combination with US and DUS. The addition of US increased the specificity from 51.4% to 66.4% at a prevalence of 31.3% malignancy. ROC analysis showed that the addition of US significantly improved the performance over mammography alone in women < 55 years old (p = 0.049); > 55 years old (p = 0.029); masses < 1 cm (p = 0.016) and masses > 1 cm (p = 0.016). These results show that the addition of US to mammography alone could substantially reduce the number of breast biopsies for benign disease.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biopsy
  • Breast / pathology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
  • Breast Self-Examination
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Mammography
  • Middle Aged
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Prospective Studies
  • Ultrasonography, Mammary*