High resolution color Doppler sonography evaluation of breast cancers negatively diagnosed by digital mammography

Objective To Compare high resolution color Doppler sonography and breast digital mammography in evaluation of breast cancer detection. Methods A total of 56 women, aged 33 to 78 years, underwent ultrasound and mammography on the same day. The sonographic and mammographic features of the lesions, as defined by the BI-RADS lexicon, were used to assess the level of suspicion by independent sonographers and radiologists. A biopsy or surgical excision was performed when any of the two investigations was judged to be suspicious for malignancy. Results Three of 56 cases had a diagnosis of false negative in breast carcinoma on ultrasound. These cases showed the calcifications in mammography. Mammography showed nine false negatives in 56 cases. The tumor size was 1.5～0.4 cm in the nine cases. Conclusions Ultrasound may be superior to breast digital mammography for small tumors in breast cancer detection.