Machine learning can reliably predict malignancy of breast lesions based on clinical and ultrasonographic features.

PURPOSE: To establish a reliable machine learning model to predict malignancy in breast lesions identified by ultrasound (US) and optimize the negative predictive value to minimize unnecessary biopsies. METHODS: We included clinical and ultrasonographic attributes from 1526 breast lesions classified as BI-RADS 3, 4a, 4b, 4c, 5, and 6 that underwent US-guided breast biopsy in four institutions. We selected the most informative attributes to train nine machine learning models, ensemble models and models with tuned threshold to make inferences about the diagnosis of BI-RADS 4a and 4b lesions (validation dataset). We tested the performance of the final model with 403 new suspicious lesions. RESULTS: The most informative attributes were shape, margin, orientation and size of the lesions, the resistance index of the internal vessel, the age of the patient and the presence of a palpable lump. The highest mean negative predictive value (NPV) was achieved with the K-Nearest Neighbors algorithm (97.9%). Making ensembles did not improve the performance. Tuning the threshold did improve the performance of the models and we chose the algorithm XGBoost with the tuned threshold as the final one. The tested performance of the final model was: NPV 98.1%, false negative 1.9%, positive predictive value 77.1%, false positive 22.9%. Applying this final model, we would have missed 2 of the 231 malignant lesions of the test dataset (0.8%). CONCLUSION: Machine learning can help physicians predict malignancy in suspicious breast lesions identified by the US. Our final model would be able to avoid 60.4% of the biopsies in benign lesions missing less than 1% of the cancer cases.

Comparison of medical image interpretation time between conventional and automated methods of breast ultrasound.

Objective: To compare the medical image interpretation's time between the conventional and automated methods of breast ultrasound in patients with breast lesions. Secondarily, to evaluate the agreement between the two methods and interobservers. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with prospective data collection. The agreement's degrees were established in relation to the breast lesions's ultrasound descriptors. To determine the accuracy of each method, a biopsy of suspicious lesions was performed, considering the histopathological result as the diagnostic gold standard. Results: We evaluated 27 women. Conventional ultrasound used an average medical time of 10.77 minutes (± 2.55) greater than the average of 7.38 minutes (± 2.06) for automated ultrasound (p<0.001). The degrees of agreement between the methods ranged from 0.75 to 0.95 for researcher 1 and from 0.71 to 0.98 for researcher 2. Among the researchers, the degrees of agreement were between 0.63 and 1 for automated ultrasound and between 0.68 and 1 for conventional ultrasound. The area of the ROC curve for the conventional method was 0.67 (p=0.003) for researcher 1 and 0.72 (p<0.001) for researcher 2. The area of the ROC curve for the automated method was 0. 69 (p=0.001) for researcher 1 and 0.78 (p<0.001) for researcher 2. Conclusion: We observed less time devoted by the physician to automated ultrasound compared to conventional ultrasound, maintaining accuracy. There was substantial or strong to perfect interobserver agreement and substantial or strong to almost perfect agreement between the methods.

BUS-BRA: A breast ultrasound dataset for assessing computer-aided diagnosis systems.

PURPOSE: Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems on breast ultrasound (BUS) aim to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of breast screening, helping specialists to detect and classify breast lesions. CAD system development requires a set of annotated images, including lesion segmentation, biopsy results to specify benign and malignant cases, and BI-RADS categories to indicate the likelihood of malignancy. Besides, standardized partitions of training, validation, and test sets promote reproducibility and fair comparisons between different approaches. Thus, we present a publicly available BUS dataset whose novelty is the substantial increment of cases with the above-mentioned annotations and the inclusion of standardized partitions to objectively assess and compare CAD systems. ACQUISITION AND VALIDATION METHODS: The BUS dataset comprises 1875 anonymized images from 1064 female patients acquired via four ultrasound scanners during systematic studies at the National Institute of Cancer (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). The dataset includes biopsy-proven tumors divided into 722 benign and 342 malignant cases. Besides, a senior ultrasonographer performed a BI-RADS assessment in categories 2 to 5. Additionally, the ultrasonographer manually outlined the breast lesions to obtain ground truth segmentations. Furthermore, 5- and 10-fold cross-validation partitions are provided to standardize the training and test sets to evaluate and reproduce CAD systems. Finally, to validate the utility of the BUS dataset, an evaluation framework is implemented to assess the performance of deep neural networks for segmenting and classifying breast lesions. DATA FORMAT AND USAGE NOTES: The BUS dataset is publicly available for academic and research purposes through an open-access repository under the name BUS-BRA: A Breast Ultrasound Dataset for Assessing CAD Systems. BUS images and reference segmentations are saved in Portable Network Graphic (PNG) format files, and the dataset information is stored in separate Comma-Separated Value (CSV) files. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS: The BUS-BRA dataset can be used to develop and assess artificial intelligence-based lesion detection and segmentation methods, and the classification of BUS images into pathological classes and BI-RADS categories. Other potential applications include developing image processing methods like despeckle filtering and contrast enhancement methods to improve image quality and feature engineering for image description.

Comparison of medical image interpretation time between conventional and automated methods of breast ultrasound

Abstract Objective: To compare the medical image interpretation's time between the conventional and automated methods of breast ultrasound in patients with breast lesions. Secondarily, to evaluate the agreement between the two methods and interobservers. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with prospective data collection. The agreement's degrees were established in relation to the breast lesions's ultrasound descriptors. To determine the accuracy of each method, a biopsy of suspicious lesions was performed, considering the histopathological result as the diagnostic gold standard. Results: We evaluated 27 women. Conventional ultrasound used an average medical time of 10.77 minutes (± 2.55) greater than the average of 7.38 minutes (± 2.06) for automated ultrasound (p<0.001). The degrees of agreement between the methods ranged from 0.75 to 0.95 for researcher 1 and from 0.71 to 0.98 for researcher 2. Among the researchers, the degrees of agreement were between 0.63 and 1 for automated ultrasound and between 0.68 and 1 for conventional ultrasound. The area of the ROC curve for the conventional method was 0.67 (p=0.003) for researcher 1 and 0.72 (p<0.001) for researcher 2. The area of the ROC curve for the automated method was 0. 69 (p=0.001) for researcher 1 and 0.78 (p<0.001) for researcher 2. Conclusion: We observed less time devoted by the physician to automated ultrasound compared to conventional ultrasound, maintaining accuracy. There was substantial or strong to perfect interobserver agreement and substantial or strong to almost perfect agreement between the methods.

Gray-to-color image conversion in the classification of breast lesions on ultrasound using pre-trained deep neural networks.

Breast ultrasound (BUS) image classification in benign and malignant classes is often based on pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to cope with small-sized training data. Nevertheless, BUS images are single-channel gray-level images, whereas pre-trained CNNs learned from color images with red, green, and blue (RGB) components. Thus, a gray-to-color conversion method is applied to fit the BUS image to the CNN's input layer size. This paper evaluates 13 gray-to-color conversion methods proposed in the literature that follow three strategies: replicating the gray-level image to all RGB channels, decomposing the image to enhance inherent information like the lesion's texture and morphology, and learning a matching layer. Besides, we introduce an image decomposition method based on the lesion's structural information to describe its inner and outer complexity. These gray-to-color conversion methods are evaluated under the same experimental framework using a pre-trained CNN architecture named ResNet-18 and a BUS dataset with more than 3000 images. In addition, the Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC), sensitivity (SEN), and specificity (SPE) measure the classification performance. The experimental results show that decomposition methods outperform replication and learning-based methods when using information from the lesion's binary mask (obtained from a segmentation method), reaching an MCC value greater than 0.70 and specificity up to 0.92, although the sensitivity is about 0.80. On the other hand, regarding the proposed method, the trade-off between sensitivity and specificity is better balanced, obtaining about 0.88 for both indices and an MCC of 0.73. This study contributes to the objective assessment of different gray-to-color conversion approaches in classifying breast lesions, revealing that mask-based decomposition methods improve classification performance. Besides, the proposed method based on structural information improves the sensitivity, obtaining more reliable classification results on malignant cases and potentially benefiting clinical practice.

Comparison of automated breast ultrasound and hand-held breast ultrasound in the screening of dense breasts / Comparação entre a ultrassonografia automatizada e a ultrassonografia convencional no rastreio de mamas densas

Abstract Objective To compare hand-held breast ultrasound (HHBUS) and automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) as screening tool for cancer. Methods A cross-sectional study in patients with mammographically dense breasts was conducted, and both HHBUS and ABUS were performed. Hand-held breast ultrasound was acquired by radiologists and ABUS by mammography technicians and analyzed by breast radiologists. We evaluated the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) classification of the exam and of the lesion, as well as the amount of time required to perform and read each exam. The statistical analysis employed was measures of central tendency and dispersion, frequencies, Student t test, and a univariate logistic regression, through the odds ratio and its respective 95% confidence interval, and with p<0.05 considered of statistical significance. Results Atotal of 440 patientswere evaluated. Regarding lesions,HHBUS detected 15 (7.7%) BI-RADS 2, 175 (89.3%) BI-RADS 3, and 6 (3%) BI-RADS 4, with 3 being confirmed by biopsy as invasive ductal carcinomas (IDCs), and 3 false-positives. Automated breast ultrasound identified 12 (12.9%) BI-RADS 2, 75 (80.7%) BI-RADS 3, and 6 (6.4%) BI-RADS 4, including 3 lesions detected by HHBUS and confirmed as IDCs, in addition to 1 invasive lobular carcinoma and 2 high-risk lesions not detected by HHBUS. The amount of time required for the radiologist to read the ABUS was statistically inferior compared with the time required to read the HHBUS (p<0.001). The overall concordance was 80.9%. A total of 219 lesions were detected, from those 70 lesions by both methods, 126 only by HHBUS (84.9% not suspicious by ABUS) and 23 only by ABUS. Conclusion Compared with HHBUS, ABUS allowed adequate sonographic study in supplemental screening for breast cancer in heterogeneously dense and extremely dense breasts.

Resumo Objetivo Comparar a ultrassonografia convencional das mamas (US) com a ultrassonografia automatizada das mamas (ABUS) no rastreio do câncer. Métodos Realizamos um estudo transversal com pacientes com mamas mamograficamente densas, sendo avaliadas pela US e pela ABUS. A US foi realizada por radiologistas e a ABUS por técnicos de mamografia e analisada por radiologistas especializados em mama. A classificação Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BIRADS) do exame e das lesões o tempo de leitura e de aquisição foram avaliados. A análise estatística foi realizada através de medidas de tendência central, dispersão e frequências, teste t de Student e regressão logística univariada, através do odds ratio, com intervalo de confiança de 95%, e com p<0,05 sendo considerado estatisticamente significante. Resultados Foram avaliadas 440 pacientes. Em relação às lesões, a US detectou 15 (7,7%) BI-RADS 2, 175 (89,3%) BI-RADS 3 e 6 (3%) BI-RADS 4, das quais 3 foram confirmadas, por biópsia, como carcinomas ductais invasivos e 3 falso-positivos. A ABUS identificou 12 (12,9%) BI-RADS 2, 75 (80,7%) BI-RADS 3 e 6 (6,4%) BI-RADS 4, incluindo 3 lesões detectadas pela US e confirmadas como carcinomas ductais invasivos, além de 1 carcinoma lobular invasivo e 2 lesões de alto risco não detectadas pela US. O tempo de leitura dos exames da ABUS foi estatisticamente inferior ao tempo do radiologista para realizar a US (p<0,001). A concordância foi de 80,9%. Um total de 219 lesões foram detectadas, das quais 70 por ambos os métodos, 126 observadas apenas pela US (84,9% não eram lesões suspeitas no ABUS) e 23 apenas pela ABUS. Conclusão Comparado à US, a ABUS permitiu adequado estudo complementar no rastreio do câncer de mamas heterogeneamente densas e extremamente densas.

Breast pseudoaneurysm after core needle biopsy in a pregnant patient.

Breast pseudoaneurysm is an extremely rare complication of interventional breast procedures. Pregnancy and lactation are associated with increased breast vascularization, which may act as a risk factor. We present the case of a 36-year-old woman in the third trimester of a spontaneous twin pregnancy, who presented with a newly-detected BI-RADS 4 mass in her right breast. The patient requested not to defer a biopsy until after the pregnancy, and an ultrasound-guided breast core biopsy was performed. The patient presented bleeding during the procedure, but no hematomas or other vascular lesions were immediately detected. During follow-up, a breast ultrasound revealed an anechoic circumscribed mass and high-velocity blood flow. The color Doppler showed a spiral blood flow with the Yin-Yang sign, together with a communication channel between the sac and feeding artery. A diagnosis of breast pseudoaneurysm was made. The patient was managed conservatively, and breastfeeding continued normally. This case report highlights the importance of color Doppler in the detection of pseudoaneurysms, and the need to consider deferring invasive breast procedures in pregnant women when possible.

Core needle biopsy in fibroepithelial tumors: predicting factors for phyllodes tumors

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical and imaging predictive factors for the diagnosis of phyllodes tumors in patients with inconclusive results from core needle biopsy (fibroepithelial lesions). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data of patients who underwent surgical excision of breast lesions previously diagnosed as fibroepithelial lesions. Numeric variables were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk and t-tests, and categorical variables were analyzed using the chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to calculate odds ratios and detect predictive factors for the diagnosis of PT. RESULTS: A total of 89 biopsy samples were obtained from 77 patients, of which 43 were confirmed as fibroadenomas, 43 as phyllodes tumors, and 3 as other benign, non-fibroepithelial breast lesions. The mean tumor size was 3.61 cm (range, 0.8-10 cm) for phyllodes tumors and 2.4 cm (range, 0.8-7.9 cm) for fibroadenomas. The predictive factor for phyllodes tumor diagnosis was lesion size >3 cm (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that fibroepithelial lesions of the breast larger than 3 cm are more likely to be phyllodes tumors.

Breast tumor classification in ultrasound images using support vector machines and neural networks

Abstract Introduction The use of tools for computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) has been proposed for detection and classification of breast cancer. Concerning breast cancer image diagnosing with ultrasound, some results found in literature show that morphological features perform better than texture features for lesions differentiation, and indicate that a reduced set of features performs better than a larger one. Methods This study evaluated the performance of support vector machines (SVM) with different kernels combinations, and neural networks with different stop criteria, for classifying breast cancer nodules. Twenty-two morphological features from the contour of 100 BUS images were used as input for classifiers and then a scalar feature selection technique with correlation was used to reduce the features dataset. Results The best results obtained for accuracy and area under ROC curve were 96.98% and 0.980, respectively, both with neural networks using the whole set of features. Conclusion The performance obtained with neural networks with the selected stop criterion was better than the ones obtained with SVM. Whilst using neural networks the results were better with all 22 features, SVM classifiers performed better with a reduced set of 6 features.

Lobular Carcinoma in Situ with Atypical Mass Presentation: a Case Report / Carcinoma lobular in situ com apresentação nodular atípica: relato de caso

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer and accounts for 1 to 2% of all breast cancers. LCIS diagnosis currently remains one of the major identifiable risk factors for subsequent breast cancer development. Imaging methods are becoming increasingly sensitive, and the consequent detection of small lesions and subtle abnormalities increases the chance of detection of in situ and invasive carcinomas, leading to a reduction in mortality. This report describes a case of a palpable complaint with abnormal imaging findings, including a solid LCIS mass.

O Carcinoma Lobular in situ (CLIS) está associado a um aumento do risco de câncer de mama e representa 1-2% de todas as neoplasias mama. Atualmente, o diagnóstico de CLIS continua a ser um dos maiores fatores de risco identificáveis para o posterior desenvolvimento de câncer de mama. Os métodos de imagem estão cada vez mais sensíveis, fazendo com que a detecção de pequenas lesões e anormalidade sutis aumentemo risco de detecções de carcinomas in situ e invasivos, levando a diminuição da mortalidade. Neste relato será descrito um caso de queixa clínica palpável com alteração de achados de imagem como massa sólida de CLIS.

Caracterización imaginológica y citológica en la neoplasia de mama / Imaging and cytology characterization in breast neoplasia

El cáncer de mama se considera un problema de salud en Cuba, de gran incidencia anual. Para caracterizar a las mujeres presuntas portadoras de neoplasia de mama que acudieron a la consulta central de mama durante el 2005, se describieron las alteraciones ecográficas y mamográficas que presentaban y se identificó la relación entre los estudios imaginológico y citológico. Se realizó esta investigación descriptiva de corte transversal en el Hospital Clinicoquirúrgico Dr. Salvador Allende, se les indicó ultrasonido, mamografía y biopsia aspirativa con aguja fina a 60 mujeres. Se caracterizaron diferentes variables. Se observó predominio en los grupos etarios de 40 a 79 años. 15 refirieron antecedentes patol¾gicos familiares maternos de cßncer mamario; 6, antecedentes patológicos personales de enfermedad mamaria y 6, menarquia precoz, entre otros. Factores como la nuliparidad y el primer parto después de los 30 años resultaron poco significativos. En ambos estudios imaginológicos se encontró que la lesión es más frecuente en el CSE de la mama izquierda, con márgenes irregulares y tamaño mayor de 10 mm. Algo más de un tercio presentó, en la mamografía, microcalcificaciones de aspecto maligno. Estos y otros elementos permitieron clasificar a más de la mitad de las pacientes en la categoría altamente sugestiva de malignidad. La relación entre ambos estudios imaginólogicos y entre ellos y el estudio citológico, arrojó resultados significativos; lo cual se refleja en las conclusiones que resumen, además, la caracterización de las variables propuestas y los resultados de los estudios diagnósticos realizados(AU)

Breast cancer is a health problem in Cuba with a high yearly incidence. To characterize those women supposed carriers of breast neoplasia seen in the central breast consultation over 2005; we describe the present echography and mammography alterations identifying the relation among imaging and cytology studies. A cross-sectional and descriptive research was conducted in the Dr. Salvador Allende Clinical Surgical Hospital prescribing them ultrasound (US), mammography and fine needle aspiration biopsy in 60 women. Different variables were characterized. There was predominance in age-groups of 40-79 years. Fifteen had pathologic maternal backgrounds of breast cancer; six had personal pathologic backgrounds of breast disease and six had an early menarche among other entities. Factors like nulliparity and the first labor at 30 years old were not much significant. In both imaging studies the lesion is more frequent in the left breast CSE with irregular edges larger than 10 mm. Almost more than the third part showed, according mammography, potential malignant microcalcifications. These and others elements allowed us to classify more than a half of patients within the category of highly suggestive of malignancy. The relation between both imaging studies including the cytology study, yielded significant results showed in conclusions also summarizing the characterization of the proposed variables and the results of diagnostic studies conducted(AU)

Caracterización imaginológica y citológica en la neoplasia de mama / Imaging and cytology characterization in breast neoplasia

El cáncer de mama se considera un problema de salud en Cuba, de gran incidencia anual. Para caracterizar a las mujeres presuntas portadoras de neoplasia de mama que acudieron a la consulta central de mama durante el 2005, se describieron las alteraciones ecográficas y mamográficas que presentaban y se identificó la relación entre los estudios imaginológico y citológico. Se realizó esta investigación descriptiva de corte transversal en el Hospital Clinicoquirúrgico Dr. Salvador Allende, se les indicó ultrasonido, mamografía y biopsia aspirativa con aguja fina a 60 mujeres. Se caracterizaron diferentes variables. Se observó predominio en los grupos etarios de 40 a 79 años. 15 refirieron antecedentes patol¾gicos familiares maternos de cßncer mamario; 6, antecedentes patológicos personales de enfermedad mamaria y 6, menarquia precoz, entre otros. Factores como la nuliparidad y el primer parto después de los 30 años resultaron poco significativos. En ambos estudios imaginológicos se encontró que la lesión es más frecuente en el CSE de la mama izquierda, con márgenes irregulares y tamaño mayor de 10 mm. Algo más de un tercio presentó, en la mamografía, microcalcificaciones de aspecto maligno. Estos y otros elementos permitieron clasificar a más de la mitad de las pacientes en la categoría altamente sugestiva de malignidad. La relación entre ambos estudios imaginólogicos y entre ellos y el estudio citológico, arrojó resultados significativos; lo cual se refleja en las conclusiones que resumen, además, la caracterización de las variables propuestas y los resultados de los estudios diagnósticos realizados

Breast cancer is a health problem in Cuba with a high yearly incidence. To characterize those women supposed carriers of breast neoplasia seen in the central breast consultation over 2005; we describe the present echography and mammography alterations identifying the relation among imaging and cytology studies. A cross-sectional and descriptive research was conducted in the Dr. Salvador Allende Clinical Surgical Hospital prescribing them ultrasound (US), mammography and fine needle aspiration biopsy in 60 women. Different variables were characterized. There was predominance in age-groups of 40-79 years. Fifteen had pathologic maternal backgrounds of breast cancer; six had personal pathologic backgrounds of breast disease and six had an early menarche among other entities. Factors like nulliparity and the first labor at 30 years old were not much significant. In both imaging studies the lesion is more frequent in the left breast CSE with irregular edges larger than 10 mm. Almost more than the third part showed, according mammography, potential malignant microcalcifications. These and others elements allowed us to classify more than a half of patients within the category of highly suggestive of malignancy. The relation between both imaging studies including the cytology study, yielded significant results showed in conclusions also summarizing the characterization of the proposed variables and the results of diagnostic studies conducted

Doppler color en el estudio de la mama: ¿Cómo lo hacemos nosotros? / Color doppler in the study of the braest: how do we perform it?

The contribution of color Doppler sonography in the study of breast cancer remains a topic of discussion. However, in the daily clinical practice it has become an indispensable instrument, and an integral part of the breast ultrasound (US). The aim of this paper is to demonstrate its utility based on the available evidence as well as on our experience. We describe the technical considerations necessary to conduct a good study, the Doppler signs of benignity/malignancy in focal lesions of the breast and the benefits of its routine use in day-to-day practice. In our experience, it is a useful tool for this purpose. Neverthless, its diagnostic impact as described in the literature is variable. To evaluate its real usefulness, prospective studies along with standardization of the evaluation technique would be required.

La contribución del Doppler color en el estudio de la mama sigue siendo un tema en discusión. No obstante, en la práctica clínica diaria se ha convertido en un instrumento indispensable, formando parte integral del Ultrasonido (US) mamario. El objetivo de este artículo es demostrar su utilidad según la evidencia disponible y a través de nuestra experiencia. Se describen las consideraciones técnicas indispensables para realizar un buen estudio, los signos Doppler de benignidad / malignidad en lesiones focales de la mama y las ventajas de su uso rutinario en la práctica diaria. En nuestra experiencia es una herramienta útil para este propósito, sin embargo su impacto diagnóstico descrito en la literatura es variable. Para evaluar su real utilidad, se requiere de la realización de estudios prospectivos y de la estandarización la técnica.

Quistes retro-aeeolares en adolescentes: aspectos clínicos y ultrasonograficos / Retro-areolar cysts in adolescents: clinical and ultrasonographic aspects

Retroareolar cysts are common in pre and postmenarchic girls. Boys are rarely diagnosed with this condition. They correspond to cystic dilatations of the accessory mammary glands that open along with a sebaceous gland at the areola and can be single or multiple, uni or bilateral, palpable or incidental findings on ultrasound. They have variable morphology, thin walls, anechogenic content, sometimes calcic sediment can be observed in their lumen. Infected cysts present enlarged, hypervascularized walls; their content is echogenic, avascular and the adjacent tissue is hyperechogenic, with increased vascularization at color Doppler. If not treated, may become retroareolar abscesses. Inflamatory complications are treated with anti-inflamatory drugs and/or antibiotics. No diagnostic biopsy or puncture aspiration is required, since they are spontaneously drained at the areola. In order to appropriately advise patients and families, it is necessary to have knowledge of both the medical and the ultrasonographic aspects of them and their complications.

Los quistes retroareolares son frecuentes en niñas pre y postmenárquicas. Raramente se diagnostican en el varón. Corresponden a dilataciones quísticas de glándulas mamarias accesorias que se abren junto con una glándula sebácea en la areola, pueden ser únicos o múltiples, uni o bilaterales, palpables o hallazgos incidentales en ecografía. Los no complicados tienen morfología variable, paredes delgadas y contenido anecogénico, pudiendo observarse sedimento calcico en su lumen. Los complicados presentan paredes engrosadas, hipervascularizadas, con contenido ecogénico, avascular, tejidos adyacentes hiperecogénicos y aumento de la vascularización al Doppler color. Sin tratamiento, pueden transformarse en abscesos retroareolares. La complicación inflamatoria se trata con antiinflamatorios y/o antibióticos. No requieren biopsia diagnóstica ni punción evacuadora, puesto que se drenan espontáneamente a la areola. El conocimiento del cuadro clínico y su aspecto ul-trasonográfico permitirá orientar adecuadamente a los pacientes y sus familias.

Biopsias core en el Hospital Padre Hurtado / Biopsies core in Padre Hurtado Hospital

The objective of our study was to describe the experience in US-guided core biopsy of the Radiology Department of Hospital Padre Hurtado. Case files of women that had undergone core biopsy during 2005 and the first semester of 2006 were retrospectively reviewed, obtaining basic demographic data, mammography and ultrasound reports, and results of core biopsy and surgical biopsy, when these were available. Our study population consisted of 37 women with a mean age of 49.8 ± 11.0 years. The main indication for core biopsy was breast nodule (91.7%). A 67.6% of core biopsies were benign and the remaining 32.4% were indicative of malignancy. 15 women had surgical excisions, all of those with indicative malignant core biopsies (12), and 3 with benign ones. Only two surgical biopsies were not consistent with their previous core, with a Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.72 (high), p = 0.0001. Core biopsy at Hospital Padre Hurtado showed high correlation with surgical biopsy, and, was useful avoiding unnecessary surgeries of benign lesions.

El objetivo de nuestro estudio fue dar a conocer la experiencia en biopsias core de la Unidad de Imagenología del Hospital Padre Hurtado. Se revisaron retrospectivamente fichas de pacientes sometidas a core durante los años 2005 y primer semestre del 2006, registrando antecedentes importantes, resultados mamográficos, ultrasonográficos, de biopsias core y quirúrgicas, cuando existían. La población fue de 37 mujeres con edad promedio de 49,8 ± 11,0 años. La principal indicación de core fue la presencia de un nódulo sólido (91,7%); el 67,6% de estas biopsias resultaron benignas y 32,4% indicaron malignidad. 15 mujeres fueron sometidas a biopsias quirúrgicas, todas aquellas con core indicativas de malignidad (12), y 3 con core benignas. Sólo dos biopsias quirúrgicas no fueron concordantes con sus core, dando un coeficiente de correlación de Spearman de 0,72 (alta), p = 0,0001. La biopsia core en nuestro hospital demostró una alta correlación con la biopsia quirúrgica y fue de gran utilidad, evitando cirugías innecesarias de lesiones benignas.