Scoring System to Stratify Malignancy Risks for Mammographic Microcalcifications Based on Breast Imaging Reporting...

To develop a scoring system stratifying the malignancy risk of mammographic microcalcifications using the 5th edition of the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS).

One hundred ninety-four lesions with microcalcifications for which surgical excision was performed were independently reviewed by two radiologists according to the 5th edition of BI-RADS. Each category's positive predictive value (PPV) was calculated and a scoring system was developed using multivariate logistic regression. The scores for benign and malignant lesions or BI-RADS categories were compared using an independent t test or by ANOVA. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was assessed to determine the discriminatory ability of the scoring system. Our scoring system was validated using an external dataset.

After excision, 69 lesions were malignant (36%). The PPV of BI-RADS descriptors and categories for calcification showed significant differences. Using the developed scoring system, mean scores for benign and malignant lesions or BI-RADS categories were significantly different (p < 0.001). The AUROC of our scoring system was 0.874 (95% confidence interval, 0.840-0.909) and the PPV of each BI-RADS category determined by the scoring system was as follows: category 3 (0%), 4A (6.8%), 4B (19.0%), 4C (68.2%), and 5 (100%). The validation set showed an AUROC of 0.905 and PPVs of 0%, 8.3%, 11.9%, 68.3%, and 94.7% for categories 3, 4A, 4B, 4C, and 5, respectively.

A scoring system based on BI-RADS morphology and distribution descriptors could be used to stratify the malignancy risk of mammographic microcalcifications.