Non-mass lesions on screening breast ultrasound.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of a non-mass lesion (NML) which is recognized duringscreening breast ultrasound (US). We included patients with a NML on screening breast US and no suspiciousfinding on mammography between March 2008 and June 2012. The final diagnoses were based on pathology results and a clinical or sonographic follow-up for more than 12 months. We calculated the incidence, likelihood of malignancy, and positive predictive value (PPV) of biopsy with a review of imaging and histopathological findings. A total of 17868 screeningbreast US were performed in 8856 asymptomatic patients. Ninety-five NMLs were detected in 88 patients (1.0%). Among the93 lesions that were followed or confirmed histopathologically, 2 (2.2%) were malignant, 89 (95.6%) were benign, and 2 (2.2%)were high risk lesions. The likelihood of malignancy in a NML on screening breast US was 2.2% and the PPV of biopsy was 6.3%(2 of 32). The likelihood of malignancy for a NML on screening breast US was greater than 2%. It could be classifiedas a BI-RADS category 4a lesion and tissue diagnosis is warranted. This provides the potential management guidelines for a NMLin screening patients and further prospective studies in a large, multicenter screening population are required.