Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Chonnam University College of Medicine
ABSTRACT
To assess the usefulness of sonography in the evaluation of palpable mass in patients less than 35 years old,the breast sonograms and mammograms of 105 histopathologically proved cases were retrospectively reviewed. Breastparenchymal patterns on mammogram, sensitivity of sonography and mammography in the diagnosis of palpable breastmasses, and sonographic findings of breast masses were analyzed. Grade IV breast parenchymal pattern wasdemonstrated in 44 of 76 mammogram (57.9%). The incidence of Grade IV pattern increased, as the patients' agebecame younger. The sensitivity of sonography (81.3%) was higher than that of mammography (45.3%) in theevaluation of the benign breast lesions. However, the sensitivity of both modalities were nearly equal (66.7% and58.3% respectively) in the evaluation of the breast cancers. Sonographic findings of fibroadenoma included oval,well defined border, smooth contour, weak homogeneous internal echoes, posterior sonic enhancement, and bilateralshadows. On the other hand, breast cancer exhibited poorly defined border, irregular contour, and inhomogeneoushypoechoic mass with posterior sonic attenuation. In summary, sonography was useful in the evaluation of thepalpable breast mass in women less than 35 years old. Characieritic sonographic findings might helf thedifferential diagnosis of breast masses.