MEDULLARY CARCINOMA OF THE BREAST: ROENTGENOLOGIC AND ULTRASOUND SEMIOTICS

Abstract

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common female cancer type and the leading cause of female cancer mortality in Russia and in majority countries of the world. Along with the most common type of BC – ductal carcinoma, there are a lot of histological types, distinguished by structure features, which lead to a variable clinical and instrumental semiotics. Thes e histological types of BC in the group marked out special types of BC, including medullary carcinoma. The concept of medullary cancer includes typical medullary BC, atypical medullary BC and invasive ductal BC with evidence of medullary morphology. Base d on the current literature data, the authors discuss the main epidemiological, clinical and morphological diagnostic features of medullary BC. The authors pay special influence pathological picture, forming the characteristic diagnostic features of medullary cancer detected using X-ray mammography and ultrasound of the breast – the basic techniques of BC and other breast diseases detection. I n 2003–2013 diagnosed 19 medullary BC cases in women aged 18–56 years, with 18 of them were recorded in patients aged 34–56 years. The authors describe in detail the features of clinical, mammographic and ultrasound semiotics of medullary BC. Article is focused on the main X-ray and ultrasound characteristics, such as mass shape and margin features, as well as its internal structure, and also the results of power Doppler. One of the main features of this article is description of ultrasound elastography pattern of medullary BC, which could be find in only a small number of scientific articles. T ypica l medullary BC, atypical medullary cancer and ductal carcinoma with medullary signs have different prognosis. This problem leads to necessity find reliable distinguishing features in mammograpic and ultrasound semiotics. It is seems important to reveal sites with indistinct margin. We have found the indistinct margin detection is not statistically significant for the differential diagnosis of typical forms of medullary BC from atypical forms and invasive ductal BC with evidence of medullary structure. Th e authors conclude that the mammographic and ultrasound semiotics of medullary BC makes accurate differential diagnosis with benign breast pathology by X-ray mammography as well as breast ultrasound impossible. There are no statistically significant differences in the results of the mammography and breast ultrasound in different histological types of medullary BC. So these diagnostic features are not reliable for the differential diagnosis. However, the application of a comprehensive usage of mammography and breast ultrasound using modern technology of ultrasound diagnosis allows to suspect BC.