Breast ultrasound scans – surgeons’ expectations

Recent years have witnessed a dynamic development of mammary gland imaging techniques, particularly ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging. A challenge related to these studies is the increase in the precision of the anatomical assessment of breast, particularly for early detection of subclinical lesions, performance of ultrasound- guided biopsy procedures, and accurate preoperative location of pathological lesions so as to optimize the surgical treatment. Ultrasound imaging is a primary and baseline diagnostic procedure the patient with suspected pathological lesions within breast is referred to by the surgeon. Lesions visualized in ultrasound scans are classified according to the BI-RADS US assessment categories. The successive categories (2 through 6) encompass individual pathological lesions, estimating the risk of malignancy and provide guidelines for further diagnostic and therapeutic management. This article described the important aspects of ultrasonographic imaging of focal lesions within the breasts as significant from the standpoint of surgical treatment of patients falling within BI-RADS US categories 3, 4, 5, and 6. Attention is drawn to the importance of ultrasound scans in the assessment of axillary fossa lymph nodes before the decision regarding the surgical treatment.