Best Practice Guideline - DEGUM Recommendations on Breast Ultrasound. / Best Practice Guideline ­ Empfehlungen der DEGUM zur Durchführung und Beurteilung der Mammasonografie.

Alongside mammography, breast ultrasound is an important and well-established method in assessment of breast lesions. With the "Best Practice Guideline", the DEGUM Breast Ultrasound (in German, "Mammasonografie") working group, intends to describe the additional and optional application modalities for the diagnostic confirmation of breast findings and to express DEGUM recommendations in this Part II, in addition to the current dignity criteria and assessment categories published in Part I, in order to facilitate the differential diagnosis of ambiguous lesions.The present "Best Practice Guideline" has set itself the goal of meeting the requirements for quality assurance and ensuring quality-controlled performance of breast ultrasound. The most important aspects of quality assurance are explained in this Part II of the Best Practice Guideline.

Best Practice Guideline - DEGUM Recommendations on Breast Ultrasound. / Best Practice Guideline ­ Empfehlungen der DEGUM zur Durchführung und Beurteilung der Mammasonografie ­ TEIL I ­ Untersuchungstechnik, Ultraschall-DEGUM-Kriterien und deren Dokumentation.

For many years, breast ultrasound has been used in addition to mammography as an important method for clarifying breast findings. However, differences in the interpretation of findings continue to be problematic 1 2. These differences decrease the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound after detection of a finding and complicate interdisciplinary communication and the comparison of scientific studies 3. In 1999, the American College of Radiology (ACR) created a working group (International Expert Working Group) that developed a classification system for ultrasound examinations based on the established BI-RADS classification of mammographic findings under consideration of literature data 4. Due to differences in content, the German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (DEGUM) published its own BI-RADS-analogue criteria catalog in 2006 3. In addition to the persistence of differences in content, there is also an issue with formal licensing with the current 5th edition of the ACR BI-RADS catalog, even though the content is recognized by the DEGUM as another system for describing and documenting findings. The goal of the Best Practice Guideline of the Breast Ultrasound Working Group of the DEGUM is to provide colleagues specialized in senology with a current catalog of ultrasound criteria and assessment categories as well as best practice recommendations for the various ultrasound modalities.

Standards of hygiene for ultrasound-guided core cut biopsies of the breast. / Hygienestandards bei der ultraschallgesteuerten Stanzbiopsie an der Mamma.

PURPOSE: The aim was to obtain an overview of the hygiene measures undertaken during ultrasound guided core cut biopsies of the breast by experts certified by the German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine in order to derive recommendations for clinical routine, taking into account the available literature and the lack of evidence based guidelines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey was conducted with all members of the levels I to III of the breast ultrasound working group of the German Society for Ultrasound in Medicine. The estimation of the risk of infection after a core cut biopsy of the breast was asked for as well as the hygiene measures undertaken in practice to avoid infection. RESULTS: The risk of infection after a core cut biopsy of the breast was estimated to be one per thousand (median value). The most commonly performed hygiene measures were a spray, wipe, spray desinfection (98.1 %) and the use of sterile gloves (54.7 %). CONCLUSION: Due to the very low risk of infection we recommend the routine use of gloves and an adequate skin disinfection. Contact of the transducer or of an unsterile contact medium with the biopsy needle is considered highly unlikely und should be avoided.

First International Consensus Conference on lesions of uncertain malignant potential in the breast (B3 lesions).

The purpose of this study is to obtain a consensus for the therapy of B3 lesions. The first International Consensus Conference on lesions of uncertain malignant potential in the breast (B3 lesions) including atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), flat epithelial atypia (FEA), classical lobular neoplasia (LN), papillary lesions (PL), benign phyllodes tumors (PT), and radial scars (RS) took place in January 2016 in Zurich, Switzerland organized by the International Breast Ultrasound School and the Swiss Minimally Invasive Breast Biopsy group-a subgroup of the Swiss Society of Senology. Consensus recommendations for the management and follow-up surveillance of these B3 lesions were developed and areas of research priorities were identified. The consensus recommendation for FEA, LN, PL, and RS diagnosed on core needle biopsy or vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) is to therapeutically excise the lesion seen on imaging by VAB and no longer by open surgery, with follow-up surveillance imaging for 5 years. The consensus recommendation for ADH and PT is, with some exceptions, therapeutic first-line open surgical excision. Minimally invasive management of selected B3 lesions with therapeutic VAB is acceptable as an alternative to first-line surgical excision.

Role of Breast Ultrasound for the Detection and Differentiation of Breast Lesions.

Diagnosis of breast cancer has been widely improved since the development of high-resolution ultrasound equipment. In the past, ultrasound was only considered useful for the diagnosis of cysts. Meanwhile, it improves the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions, local preoperative staging and guided interventional diagnosis. In dense breasts, mammography has limited sensitivity. Furthermore, women with dense parenchyma have a highly increased risk of breast cancer development. Ultrasound is useful to examine dense breast tissue. Recent studies have shown that the detection of small cancers with high-resolution ultrasound is increased by 3-4 cancers per 1,000 women without clinical or mammographic abnormalities. Furthermore, stage distribution is similar between mammographically and sonographically detected carcinomas. Ultrasound is routinely used for curative diagnosis, to overcome the limitations of mammography. However, within the mammographic screening in Germany, breast density is not considered as important. Ultrasound is only used if a suspicious lesion is detected by mammography. Interestingly, 2 years ago, a screening project started in Austria in which ultrasound is always added in cases of dense breasts. Preliminary data show that the detection of additional carcinomas is increased in the same order as shown in previous studies. Therefore, an improved cancer detection and differentiation can be expected with high-resolution ultrasound.

Early detection of breast cancer: benefits and risks of supplemental breast ultrasound in asymptomatic women with mammographically dense breast tissue. A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Mammographic screening alone will miss a certain fraction of malignancies, as evidenced by retrospective reviews of mammograms following a subsequent screening. Mammographic breast density is a marker for increased breast cancer risk and is associated with a higher risk of interval breast cancer, i.e. cancer detected between screening tests. The purpose of this review is to estimate risks and benefits of supplemental breast ultrasound in women with negative mammographic screening with dense breast tissue. METHODS: A systematic search and review of studies involving mammography and breast ultrasound for screening of breast cancer was conducted. The search was performed for the period 1/2000-8/2008 within the data source of PubMed, DARE, and Cochrane databases. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were determined prospectively, and the Oxford evidence classification system for diagnostic studies was used for evidence level. The parameters biopsy rate, positive predictive value (PPV) for biopsy, cancer yield for breast ultrasound alone, and carcinoma detection rate by breast density were extracted or constructed. RESULTS: The systematic search identified no randomized controlled trials or systematic reviews, six cohort studies of intermediate level of evidence (3b) were found. Only two of the studies included adequate follow-up of subjects with negative or benign findings. Supplemental breast ultrasound after negative mammographic screening permitted diagnosis of primarily invasive carcinomas in 0.32% of women in breast density type categories 2-4 of the American College of Radiology (ACR); mean tumor size for those identified was 9.9 mm, 90% with negative lymph node status. Most detected cancers occurred in mammographically dense breast ACR types 3 and 4. Biopsy rates were in the range 2.3%-4.7%, with PPV of 8.4-13.7% for those biopsied due to positive ultrasound, or about one third of the PPV of biopsies due to mammography. LIMITATIONS: The study populations included wide age ranges, and the application to women age 50-69 years as proposed for mammographic screening could result in less striking benefit. Further validation studies should employ a uniform assessment system such as BI-RADS and report not only PPV, but also negative predictive value, sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSION: Supplemental breast ultrasound in the population of women with mammographically dense breast tissue (ACR 3 and 4) permits detection of small, otherwise occult, breast cancers. Potential adverse impacts for women in this intermediate risk group are associated with an increased biopsy rate.

Assessment of breast cancer vascularisation by Doppler ultrasound as a prognostic factor of survival.

Tumor growth and metastasis in breast cancer are correlated to neoangiogenesis, which became a potential candidate as a prognostic factor in this tumor type. Several studies have used immunohistochemical staining to count microvessel density as a marker of neoangiogenesis. This hospital-based retrospective pilot study measured vascularisation of early breast cancer by Doppler ultrasound and determined its value as a prognostic factor of overall survival in 147 women. The number of tumor related arteries were detected by color-coded Doppler ultrasound. We identified < or =10 tumor arteries and >10 tumor arteries in 117 and 30 women, respectively. Only weak correlation was found between the number of tumor arteries and established clinicopathological parameters such as tumor size (r=0.25) and lymph node involvement (r=0.13). In an univariate analysis, the strongest predictors of overall survival were number of tumor arteries [relative risk (RR) 4.60 (1.96-10.78)], positive axillary lymph nodes [RR 4.48 (1.59-12.60)] and angioinvasion [RR 4.26 (1.93-9.37)]. These three parameters were also found to be independent predictors of overall survival in a multivariate analysis [RR 3.21 (1.13-9.10) for positive lymph nodes; RR 2.69 (1.33-5.41) for number of tumor arteries; RR 2.84 (1.27-6.34) for angioinvasion]. Tumor vascularisation detected by Doppler ultrasound appears to be an independent predictor of overall survival in women with early breast cancer.