First AD

Second AD

A 47-year-old woman presents for screening mammography and requests a screening breast ultrasound. On mammography, no suspicious masses or areas of calcifications are identified. The breast tissue is extremely dense.

On ultrasound, there is a newly identified irregular hypoechoic mass in the left 2:00 area. 

The mass identified on ultrasound underwent an ultrasound guided core needle biopsy.

Mammographic sensitivity has been shown to be reduced signiï¬cantly with increasing breast density. Screening breast ultrasound has a role in imaging dense breast tissue as it has been shown to signiï¬cantly increase the detection of small cancers and depict signiï¬cantly more cancers of small size and low stage.

References:Kolb TM, Lichy J, Newhouse JH. Comparison of the Performance of Screening Mammography, Physical Examination, and Breast US and Evaluation of Factors that Inï¬uence Them: An Analysis of 27,825 Patient Evaluations. Radiology 2002; 225:165–175.

Image IQ: 47-year-old with Irregular Mass in Dense Breast Tissue

Stamatia Destounis, MD, FACR