Background . The growing interest in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) is due to its ability to significantly reduce the false-positive rate of mammography due to layer-by-layer imaging, which provides a more detailed analysis of tissue structural features. Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of DBT in reducing the rate of false-positive mammography results. Material and methods . The data of 82 patients with BI-RADS category 4 on 2D mammography who underwent DBT using Fujifilm FDR MS-3500 device (high resolution mode, slice thickness 1 mm) were retrospectively analyzed. If the detected changes were classified as BI-RADS 4–5 by DBT, a stereotactic biopsy with histological verification was performed. An analysis of the consistency between DBT and mammography in the classification of pathological changes in the BI-RADS category was carried out, as well as an assessment of the positive prognostic value of 2D mammography and DBT. Results . DBT reclassified BI-RADS 4 determined by mammography results to BI-RADS 2 in 59% of cases and to BI-RADS 3 in 8.5% of cases. The positive prognostic value for mammography was 17.1%, for DBT it was 53.8%. In patients with radiologically dense mammary glands (ACR C, D), in 66.7% of cases, BI-RADS 4 were reclassified into BI-RADS 2–3. Conclusion . DBT was proven to be superior to standard mammography in accurately classifying masses according to BI-RADS categories, including in patients with high breast density, providing detailed visualization of the architectonics of pathologies and reducing the incidence of false positives.
Fatkhutdinova et al. (Tue,) studied this question.