Combination of ultrasonography and X-ray mammography in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast tumors

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of ultrasonography and X-ray mammography in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast tumors. Methods Based on the pathological results, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value, and accuracy of ultrasonography and/or X-ray mammography were evaluated in 168 breast neoplasms. Results There were 113 benign and 55 malignant breast tumors. Although the mammography was superior to ultrasonography in the detection of calcification of malignant tumors (P0.01), other indexes showed no significant difference between both methods (P0.05). The specificity, positive predictive value and diagnostic accuracy were significantly higher in the combination of ultrasonography and mammography than those in single use of them (P0.01 or 0.05). Conclusion The combination of ultrasonography and mammography can improve the diagnostic accuracy of breast tumors.