The Adjunctive Digital Breast Tomosynthesis in Diagnosis of Breast Cancer

PURPOSE To compare the diagnostic performance of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) and digital mammography (DM) for breast cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fifty-seven female patients with pathologically proved breast cancer were enrolled. Three readers gave a subjective assessment superiority of the index lesions (mass, focal asymmetry, architectural distortion, or calcifications) and a forced BIRADS score, based on DM reading alone and with additional DBT information. The relevance between BIRADS category and index lesions of breast cancer was compared by chi-square test. RESULT A total of 59 breast cancers were reviewed, including 17 (28.8%) mass lesions, 12 (20.3%) focal asymmetry/density, 6 (10.2%) architecture distortion, 23 (39.0%) calcifications, and 1 (1.7%) intracystic tumor. Combo DBT was perceived to be more informative in 58.8% mass lesions, 83.3% density, 94.4% architecture distortion, and only 11.6% calcifications. As to the forced BIRADS score, 84.4% BIRADS 0 on DM was upgraded to BIRADS 4 or 5 on DBT, whereas only 27.3% BIRADS 4A on DM was upgraded on DBT, as BIRADS 4A lesions were mostly calcifications. A significant P value (<0.001) between the BIRADS category and index lesions was noted. CONCLUSION Adjunctive DBT gives exquisite information for mass lesion, focal asymmetry, and/or architecture distortion to improve the diagnostic performance in mammography.