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

Background: Although mammography remains the gold standard for breast imaging, it has undergone increased criticism. HHUS and mammography find significantly more early-stage breast cancers than mammography alone. However, HHUS is time consuming and has a high number of false positives. New technologies for breast cancer screening have been developed, including ABUS. Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinical utility of automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) against handheld ultrasound (HHUS) in detecting and characterizing breast masses. Patients and methods: This study included 47 female patients of different age groups, having breast mass(es) on conventional ultrasound. HHUS and ABUS were done for all patients and evaluated by two experienced radiologists. Assessment of the breast masses was performed using BIRADS lexicon. Statistical analysis of the collected data was carried out to compare the performance of HHUS versus ABUS. Results: ABUS and HHUS showed agreement in 53 breast lesions; 4 were BIRADS II,14 lesions were BIRADS III, 9 lesions were BIRADS IV and 26 lesions were BIRADS V. One lesion was given BIRADS IVC by HHUS but BIRADS III by ABUS and histopathologically was fibroadenoma. One mass was missed by HHUS being obscured by nipple shadow, detected by ABUS as BIRADS III.Conclusion: From this study, ABUS rather than HHUS should be implemented as an adjunct to mammography for better detection and characterization of breast masses

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