Standards of the Polish Ultrasound Society – update. Sonomammography examination

The use of BIRADS classification has been recommended in sonomammography examinations in Poland since the year 2010. It was developed by the Polish Ultrasound Society and published in Ultrasound Examinations Standards of the Polish Ultrasound Society. Standards, based on BIRADS-usg classification, introduced uniformity in breast ultrasound examination descriptions and in the terminology of pathological lesions in breasts. BIRADS-usg classification takes into account breast morphological structure elements and pathological focal lesions in them. It enables the distinction between benign lesions and lesions suspected of being malignant. It contains information on the malignancy risk of focal lesions and proposals of diagnostic-therapeutic algorithms (including biopsy) in relation to lesions of different character. The Polish Ultrasound Society recommends performing prophylactic sonomammography examinations every 12 months in women over the age of 30 because of the increasing breast cancer morbidity in women from all age groups. In this article a spectrum of focal changes in breasts are presented within the relevant BIRADS-usg classification categories. The features of ultrasound morphology, enabling them to be classified to particular categories of BIRADS-usg classification are discussed. Management algorithms which may help clinicians to diagnose breast cancer and to treat it are proposed. Elements of medical history, physical examination, recommended techniques of sonomammography examination performance, technical parameters of ultrasound machine and examination description standards are presented. This article was prepared based on the Ultrasound Examination Standards of the Polish Ultrasound Society which was published in 2011 and updated. It contains numerous pictures visualizing BIRADS-usg classification.