The Value of Full field Digital Mammography,Ultrasonography and MRI in the Assessment of Breast Cancer Size

Objective To evaluate the value of mammography,ultrasonography and MRI to predict the tumor size preoperatively,and discuss their possible causes of over and underestimation.Materials and Methods 46 patients of breast cancer which were all performed with mammography,ultrasonography and MRI were enrolled to measure tumor size,the results were compared to pathological results.Results The mean pathological tumor size of the 46 malignant breast tumors was(2.38±1.44)cm.The mean tumor size in mammography,ultrasonography and MRI were(3.09±2.12)cm,(2.25±1.09)cm,(2.60±1.31)cm respectively.The correlation r(versus pathologic size)for mammography,ultrasonography and MRI were 0.51,0.71 and 0.84 respectively.The difference of mammographically determined size in different lesions were statistically significant(χ2=15.903,P=0.001).The difference of three methods determined size in different lesions were statistically significant(χ2=10.831,P=0.004).Conclusion MRI is superior to mammography and ultrasonography in predicting the tumor size preoperatively,the measurements of mammography,ultrasonography and MRI all exist underestimation or overestimation for tumor size.