Evaluation of breast symptoms with mammography and ultrasonography

Abstract

Introduction: Aim of the study was to discern which are more frequent symptoms presented in malign and benign masses diagnosed by mammography and ultrasonography.
Methods: Our study group consisted of 546 female patients, with breast symptoms such as palpable lumps (40.8%), pain in the breast (26%), localized lumpiness or nodularity (13.7%), nipple retraction (11.2%), nipple
bloody discharge (5.1%) and redness and swelling of the breast (3.1%). All 546 patients were examined by ultrasonography and mammography. Biopsy was performed according to the findings of mammography and ultrasonography.
Results: In breast cancer detection ultrasonography showed an efficiency of 79.4% compared to 55.0% for mammography in detecting breast lump, in the case of nipple retraction mammography showed an efficiency of 89.1% compared to 80.4% for ultrasound, while the lowest efficiency for mammography was in the cases with localized lumpiness or nodularity 17.1% compared to 45.7% for ultrasound. In detecting fibrocystic changes where the most common symptoms was pain, ultrasonography showed an efficiency of 99.3 % compared to 84.2 % for mammography.
Conclusions: Our study confirmed that breast lumps are detectable in the majority of patients with breast cancer. The most frequent symptoms in patient with benign lesions were pain or localized discomfort. The diagnostic accuracy for carcinomas of the breast and for benign lesions according to symptoms was higher for ultrasound than for mammography.