Role of sonomammography and its diagnostic accuracy for evaluating benign and malignant breast lesions

Background: Mammography and ultrasound are the best-known techniques used for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer. This study evaluated the accuracy of sonomammography in diagnosing breast lesions, both benign and malignant separately and confirmation of the findings by histopathology.Methods: A prospective study was conducted for 18 months in women aged above 15 years with breast lesions or symptoms of breast diseases. The diagnosis protocol consisted of clinical breast examination, mammography, ultrasound and histopathological examination. Mammograms were interpreted according to the breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) diagnostic categories on a five-point scale. This was followed by ultrasound imaging of the breast and axilla with ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration cytology (sonomammography-FNAC) from the breast lump.Results: Among the 52 patients, three patients were divorced, 40 were married and nine were unmarried. Eight had a history of oral contraceptive pills (OCP) use and one patient had a family history of breast lesions. The mammography report revealed 31 patients suspected to be malignant and 21 patients to be benign. According to the sonomammography report, 32 patients were suspected to be malignant while 20 patients were suspected to be benign. Correlation between mammography report, sonomammography report and grade versus histopathological finding also showed significance with p<0.0001.Conclusions: Sonomammography reveals good sensitivity and specificity for detecting all breast lesions. Hence it can be considered as a suitable means of investigation than mammography especially in patients less than 40 years of age.