Role of Tomosynthesis in Determining the BI-RADS Score of Individuals with Indeterminate Mammography Results

Abstract

Background: Tomosynthesis, despite its potential to produce superior images compared to mammography for Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) scoring, has not yet been widely adopted. This is likely due to a combination of insufficient data and a scarcity of expertise in this area. Objectives: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the potential benefits of tomosynthesis for patients with indeterminate BI-RADS results from full-field digital mammography (FFDM). Specifically, we sought to determine whether this method could clarify ambiguous BI-RADS scores. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 386 female patients, with an average age of 44.7 ± 7.9 years. The study included all patients who were admitted to a referral center for breast radiology during 2019 - 2020 and underwent both FFDM and tomosynthesis within a short interval. The purpose of performing tomosynthesis was to assess its additional benefits over FFDM. The collected data was input into SPSS version 20 for analysis. A P-value of less than 0.05 was deemed statistically significant. Results: Out of 152 patients who initially had indeterminate findings in mammography (BI-RADS score of 0), only one patient (0.7%) remained indeterminate after tomosynthesis. This implies that tomosynthesis was able to clarify the BI-RADS scores for 99.3% of patients with previously indeterminate scores. Specifically, out of these 151 patients, 81 were scored as BI-RADS 2, 45 as BI-RADS 3, 19 as BI-RADS 4, and six as BI-RADS 5. Conclusion: Tomosynthesis has the capability to clarify unclear FFDM BI-RADS scores in over 99% of cases. This suggests that it could serve as the primary supplementary imaging technique for cases with indeterminate BI-RADS scores.