Triple assessment in the diagnosis of carcinoma breast: mammography along with clinical symptomatology

To determine the clinical symptoms and marnrnographic findings in patients of carcinoma breast. Validation study. Armed Forces Institute of Radiology and Imaging Rawalpindi, from January 2011 to Dec 2011. Women of > 30 years of age including premenopausal and postmenopausal with positive findings on histopathology were included in the study. Pregnant women, breast-feeding women, women younger than 30 years old [in whom only sonography was performed] were excluded from the study. Total 57 female patients were included in the study through non-probability consecutive sampling. Mean age of the patients was 52.8 years [SD = 10.3]. Age range of the patients was between 32-72 years. Maximum patients were in the age group of 40 - 50 years. A total of 42.1% patients reported with complaint of lump and mastalgia while 29.8% with lump alone. As far as mammographic findings are concerned speculated mass with axillary lymphadenopathy was the major finding. Histopathological results showed that most common malignant mass was invasive ductal carcinoma [89.5%]. Mammography is the mainstay for evaluation of breast cancer but only patients with the complaints of lump and mastalgia should be evaluated through mammography to avoid unnecessary evaluation

Mammographic and sonographic features in carcinoma breast

The most common malignant disease among the females is carcinoma breast. Its management requires team effort, in which modern imaging techniques play an important rote, in diagnosis and assessing the severity of disease. A total number of 71 patients were studied from 01 January 2000 to 30 August 2001 at CMH Rawalpindi. The age range was 19-65 years. Duration of disease ranged from 2-6 months. Sixty three patients were married and eight were unmarried. On mammogram, the lesion pick up rate was 88%, that is 62 out of 71 patients. Mostly the lesion appeared as dense irregular mass. False negative cases were seen in patient s with dense glandular breasts. On ultrasound, lesion pick up rate was 93%, that is 66 out of 71 patients. In most of cases lesion appeared as solid hypoechoeic or heterogeneous mass with irregular margins and posterior shadowing. It is concluded that when the mammography and sonography are used simultaneously the diagnostic yield is very high, that is, in 85% of cases, there is agreement of findings. It is also concluded that the mammographic and sonographic features of Ca breast are not 100% diagnostic and false negative cases do exist