COMPARISON BETWEEN DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY AND DIGITAL BREAST TOMOSYNTHESIS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF BREAST CANCER

COMPARISON BETWEEN DIGITAL MAMMOGRAPHY AND DIGITAL BREAST TOMOSYNTHESIS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF BREAST CANCER (Abstract): The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of adding digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) to digital mammography (DM) on the detection and characterization of breast lesions and to compare the diagnostic performance of DM and DBT in order to determine whether or not simultaneously viewing is more informative in detection of breast cancers. Material and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 58 female patients (age 38 to 79 years old), who had pathologically proved breast cancers and had undergone both DM and DBT during a period of eight month (between February and September 2018). The diagnostic performance of each modality was evaluated. Results: The sensitivity of DM was 73% and its specificity was 47%, respectively the sensitivity of DBT was 98% and specificity 73%. The positive predictive value was 0.81 for DBT, while DM had a positive predictive value of 0.58. The negative predictive value was 0.98 in DBT and 0.62 in DM. The margins of the mass lesions and inhomogeneity of the focal asymmetric densities were better evaluated on DBT. Distributions and morphology of microcalcifications were better characterized on digital mammography than on tomosynthesis. Conclusions: In our study, DBT significantly enhances the detection and characterization of tumors in the context of mass lesions and focal asymmetric densities.