Clinical experience with a prototype real-time dedicated breast scanner

The evaluation of 1,003 sonomammographic examinations on a predominantly symptomatic population using a prototype real-time dedicated breast scanner is presented. Interpretations were initially made by one of four experienced radiologists without knowledge of clinical data (i.e., symptoms, age, physical findings, or other imaging modality interpretations). A second interpretation was subsequently made with this information. Pathologic confirmation was available on 262 lesions, including 71 carcinomas and 191 benign biopsies. Of the carcinomas, 19 were smaller than 2.0 cm in diameter. The sensitivity of sonographic detection of breast cancer on initial readings was 0.76 and on second readings with clinical data was 0.85. The specificity for a benign reading on sonography was 0.80 on initial interpretation and 0.81 on the second interpretation.