Ultrasound Evaluation of Palpable Breast Masses in Correlation with Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology

2013").Though breast cancer is thought to be a disease of developed countries, the 50% of cases and 58% of deaths occur in developing countries.According to 2014 statistics of WHO the rate of mortality of breast cancer in India was estimated to be 21.5%.Age standardised cancer mortality trends was found highest for breast cancer when compared to all other cancers in India.Breast cancers usually presents as a lump or mass in the breast.It is a major concern to the patient and it need to be evaluated as early as possible.1,2 Breast Ultrasonography has evolved as an important complementary modality to mammography, and it is performed along with the mammography for diagnosis of lesions.Sono-mammography can differentiate solid and cystic masses.3,4 The image quality has improved the confidence in correct identification of benign lesions and malignant lesions.5,6 Although many studies had been conducted in the past, still breast cancer is poorly understood.There are various radiological methods for evaluation of breast.Most commonly employed methods are x-ray-mammogram, sono-mammogram.Ultrasound has more advantages over mammography in diagnosing breast cancer.It has no radiation exposure so it is suitable for evaluating young breasts, pregnant, lactating woman.It helps in diagnosing lesions in dense breasts.The high frequency probes help in providing good lateral resolution.Real time imaging and panoramic views helps in better identification and delineation of the lesion.7,8 USG elastography has been evolved recently and the results A B S T R A C T Introduction:Breast cancer is found to be the leading cancer in woman across the world.Ultrasound is safe and does not have radiation exposure.It is suitable for evaluating young breasts, pregnant, lactating woman.The objectives of our study were to find the accuracy of ultrasound in diagnosis of benign and malignant breast masses and to correlate the benign and malignant ultrasound features with tissue diagnosis.Materials and methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study which includes 60 female patients, of age ranging between 20-85 years with history of palpable breast masses referred to the Radiology department for ultrasound scan in the past 18 months from January 2018 to June 2019.Initially USG was performed and then FNAC was done.Tissue diagnosis was done in all patients.The sonological findings and FNAC results were correlated with tissue diagnosis by statistical analysis.Results: The USG findings most predictive for a benign and malignant tissue diagnosis were identified.The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV of ultrasound is 100%, 94.3%, 89.5%, 100% respectively.False positive and false negative rate of USG is 5.7% and 0% respectively.The specificity, sensitivity, NPV, PPV of FNAC is 100%, 85%, 92.9%, 100% respectively.False negative and false positive rate of FNAC is 7.1% and 0% respectively.Conclusion: Ultrasound and FNAC are supplementary to each other, thus when they are used together, majority of the lesions can be diagnosed.This helps in avoiding radiation exposure & decrease the number of biopsies performed for benign solid masses.