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Published on: December 15, 2014
Benign or malignant?: differentiating breast lesions with computed tomography attenuation values on dynamic computed
Kanae Miyake1, Katsumi Hayakawa, Mizuki Nishino
1Department of Radiology, Kyoto City Hospital, Kyoto, Japan. kanae3@sea.plala.or.jp
Objective:
To evaluate enhancement effects of breast lesions with dynamic computed tomography (CT) and to determine characteristics to aid in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions.
Methods:
One hundred seventy-six women underwent preoperative dynamic CT, in which they were scanned with rapid injection of contrast media (3 mL/s) after 30 seconds and 2 minutes (early and delayed phases, respectively). The CT values and enhancement patterns of malignant lesions (n = 154) were compared with those of benign lesions (n = 22), and the cut point of CT values with the best validity was analyzed.
Results:
The CT values of malignant lesions were higher than those of benign lesions in both phases (P < 0.0001). The cut point was determined to be 60 Hounsfield units (HU) in the early phase (44% validity, 90% sensitivity). Washout and plateau patterns were more commonly seen in the malignant group (73% specificity).
Conclusions:
The analysis of enhancement effects on CT may lead to more appropriate differentiation of benign and malignant lesions.
