Ultrasound Image Classification of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) of the Breast: Analysis of 705 DCIS Lesions

The Japan Association of Breast and Thyroid Sonology (JABTS) proposed, in 2003, a conceptual classification system for non-mass abnormalities to be applied in addition to the conventional concept of masses, to facilitate detecting ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) lesions. The aim of this study was to confirm the utility of this system and to clarify the distribution of these findings in DCIS lesions. Data on 705 surgically treated DCIS lesions from 16 institutions in Japan were retrospectively reviewed. All 705 DCIS lesions could be classified according to the JABTS classification system. The most frequent findings were hypo-echoic areas in the mammary gland (48.6%), followed by solid masses (28.0%) and duct abnormalities (10.2%) or mixed masses (8.1%). Distortion (1.3%), clustered microcysts (1.4%) and echogenic foci without a hypo-echoic area (2.5%) were uncommon. These results suggest that the concept of non-mass abnormalities is useful in detecting DCIS lesions.