Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 12, 2026
Clinical Imaging of Microwave Mammography
Published on: November 14, 2025
Breast ultrasound in 22,131 asymptomatic women with negative mammography
Veronica Girardi1, Mara Tonegutti, Stefano Ciatto
1Diagnostic Breast Clinic, Casa di Cura Dott. Pederzoli, Peschiera del Garda, Italy.
Purpose:
To evaluate increment cancer detection rate generated by ultrasound (US).
Materials And Methods:
US only detected cancers were assessed for 22,131 self-referring asymptomatic women with negative mammography and subgroups by age, previous cancer, breast density. Invasive assessment and surgical biopsy rate were evaluated.
Results:
The overall US detection was 1.85 per thousand (41/22,131). In the subgroups it was: 1.95 per thousand (22/11,274) in women <50 years vs 1.75 per thousand (19/10,857) in women ≥ 50 years (p = 0.42), 5.49 per thousand (12/2183) in women with previous cancer vs 1.45 per thousand (29/19,948) in women without cancer history (p = 0.0004), 2.21 per thousand (22/9960) in dense breasts (p = 0.17) vs 1.56 per thousand (19/12,171) in fatty breasts. The US generated invasive assessment was 1.9% (422/22,131). The benign to malignant open surgical biopsy ratio was 0.17 (7/41).
Conclusion:
Adding US to negative mammography allowed for substantial incremental cancer detection rate (1.85 per thousand), particularly at age <50 years, in women with previous breast cancer and in dense breasts.
