유방암 선별 검사로서 시행한 유방촬영술에서 치밀 유방으로 진단된 여성에서 유방 초음파의 유용성

The effectiveness of breast ultrasonography for cancer screening: a comparison with mammography

The purpose of this study was to confirm the effectiveness of breast ultrasonography (US) for breast cancer screening in Korean women by comparing the ratio of patients who are diagnosed with malignancy using breast US with the ratio of those who are diagnosed with dense breasts (category 0) based on mammography (MMG). We conducted a retrograde study on 2,038 female patients who had undergone MMG screening at a single center in South Korea. The patients were categorized according to the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) classification. 82 patients were excluded from the study because they had previously undergone breast cancer surgery and 21 were excluded because they had refused breast US within 6 month after undergone MMG. The patients were categorized based on MMG according to the BI-RADS classification as follows: 1,003 patients (51.8%, 1,003/1,935) corresponding to category 0, 599 (31.0%, 599/1,935) to category 1, 209 (10.8%, 209/1,935) to category 2, 55 (2.8%, 55/1,935) to category 3, and 69 (3.6%, 69/1,935) to category 4 or more. Breast US confirmed suspicious lesions in 141 of the 1,003 patients in category 0, of which 50 patients (5.0% of all patients in category 0) were identified as having malignancy based on biopsy results. 6 patients in category 1 (1.0%, 6/599) were identified as having malignancy, 2 (1.0%, 2/209) in category 2, 4 (7.3%, 4/55) in category 3, and 17 (24.6%, 17/69) in category 4 or more. Our study indicates that cancer detection may be more effective with a combined MMG and breast US screening compared to MMG alone, especially in Korean women.