Ultrasound May Improve Breast Cancer Detection

(May 14, 2008) - Women who face a high risk of beast cancer (Read about "Breast Cancer") may want to get an ultrasound (Read about "Ultrasound Imaging") in addition to their regular mammogram. The addition of an ultrasound examination to mammography for women at high-risk of breast cancer resulted in a higher rate of cancer detection, but also increased the number of false-positive results, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Supplemental screening ultrasound has the potential of depicting small, node-negative breast cancers (when there is no cancer in the lymph nodes) not seen on mammography, according to background information in the article.

Researchers conducted a study to compare the diagnostic effectiveness of screening breast mammography plus ultrasound vs. mammography alone in women at increased risk of breast cancer. The study included 2,809 women with dense breast tissue who were randomized to undergo mammographic and ultrasonographic examinations.

The diagnostic yield for mammography was 7.6 cancers per 1,000 women screened (20/2,637).

Thirty-one cancers were diagnosed in 2,637 participants by the combination of mammography plus ultrasound, producing a yield of 11.8 per 1,000 women, and an increased yield due to ultrasound of 4.2 per 1,000 over mammography alone (or an additional 1.1 to 7.2 cancers per 1,000 high-risk women).

The false-positive rate for mammography was 4.4 percent; for ultrasound, 8.1 percent; and for combined mammography plus ultrasound, 10.4 percent.