Mammographic follow-up of nonpalpable low-suspicion breast abnormalities: one versus two views

A retrospective study involving 498 women with a total of 666 breast lesions was undertaken to determine the relative efficacy of one- and two-view mammography in the follow-up evaluation of "low-suspicion" abnormal mammographic findings. These abnormalities consisted of well-defined masses (47.1%), well-defined punctate microcalcifications (20.9%), and parenchymal asymmetry (32.0%). Confidence in the adequacy of the single-view follow-up was high in 91% of cases. The addition of the second mammographic view changed the one-view interpretation in approximately 1% of all cases. Two cancers were detected during the initial follow-up period. Both cancers were detected with single-view and standard two-view follow-up examinations, with high confidence. In this controlled retrospective study, the single-view follow-up examination was adequate for follow-up of most low-suspicion mammographic abnormalities. Monitoring by physicians, however, would be necessary to prevent an unacceptable number of patient recalls, which could make the one-view follow-up study impractical to use in some practices.