Effectiveness of Tomosynthesis Versus Digital Mammography in the Diagnosis of Suspicious Lesions for Breast Cancer in an Asymptomatic Population

Abstract

Introduction The most frequent malignant tumor in women is breast cancer. A dense breast may mask lesions within the tissue. The constant improvement in diagnosis techniques has made the diagnosis more accurate. Digital mammography loses sensitivity in dense breasts as lesions may be masked by the over-position of tissue. Tomosynthesis increases sensitivity and specificity over diagnostic mammography. In this study, we examine the effectiveness of tomosynthesis versus digital mammography in asymptomatic patients. Materials and methods A cohort study of 1,499 Mexican patients that came for screening at a private health service from January to December 2015. A Breast Imaging Reporting and Database System (BI-RADS) classification was given by a breast radiologist with the digital mammography reading. Later, a second breast radiologist reviewed the same patients with tomosynthesis and assigned a second BI-RADS category. Results Patients were divided into three age groups. The one with the most had patients between 40-49 years (51.3%), where re-staging to a higher BI-RADS occurred in 40 patients. Re-staging to a lower category was most common in the group of age above 50, where 30 patients were assigned BI-RADS 2 after tomosynthesis. Dense breast (C and D) represented 38%. After tomosynthesis, 28 patients were classified as BI-RADS 4 or 5. The prevalence of diseases in groups BI-RADS 4 and BI-RADS 5 after re-staging and a breast cancer result was 0.024, with a sensitivity of 54% and a specificity of 88%. When re-staging 2D mammography with 3D tomosynthesis for suspicious lesions classified BI-RADS 3, 4, or 5, the prevalence was 0.23, with a sensitivity of 45% and a specificity of 98%. In this study, patients were asymptomatic, yet 20 breast cancers were detected, with a sensitivity of 54% and a specificity of 88%, exceeding the specificity of diagnostic mammography. Moreover, when re-staging to a BI-RADS of suspicious findings, the sensitivity was 45%, with a specificity of as high as 98%.