Study of role of digital breast tomosynthesis over digital mammography in the assessment of BIRADS 3 breast lesions / Marwa Abdelhalim Omar ; Supervised Lamiaa Adel Salah Eldin , Sayed A. Marei , Engy Adel Ali

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Radio-diagnosis

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and thus, screening has become an important health issue. Although mammography remains the standard of care for breast cancer screening and diagnosis (with biopsy), evidence is accumulating that new imaging technologies are becoming important in breast cancer management. Digital Breast Tomosynthesis allows the separation of overlapping structures seen on 2D mammography, thus enables better depiction of masses and asymmetries. It is therefore very useful in the screening setting where better lesion detection and accurate description of its margins, shape and effects on surrounding structures, as well as the presence or absence of microcalcifications can be of value in confirming or excluding the potential for malignancy. Three dimensional Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (3D DBT)is an advance in the field of breast imaging. Better experience and awareness of this modality would allow better diagnosis and prompt management of breast disease.Three dimensional tomosynthesis has specific signs in lesions for categorization of benign & malignant pathology resulting in efficient & effective diagnosis. Three dimensional Tomosynthesis has been found to reduce recall rates because of better assessment and categorisation of breast lesions.In a setting of Screening mammograms it is very important to identify the benign lesions correctly and the various signs help us in doing this. In two dimensional mammography breast lesions are analysed for Primary features like masses & calcification. However due to overlap of tissue even palpable masses can be missed. And Secondary features of asymmetry & architectural distortion are invariably recalled for additional evaluation. Spot and magnification views are needed to resolve calcification while tangential views are needed for skin lesions.However in a setting of screening mammograms where bulk of the lesions are benign or normal it is very important to identify them correctly and the various signs help us in doing this

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