Real-time sonography of palpable breast masses

In order to evaluate the clinical usefulness of an electronic real-time linear array scanner in breast diseases, ultrasonography was performed in 148 cases of histologically confirmed palpable breast masses. The real-time images were observed on a television monitor while moving the hand-held transducer probes over the masses. It took only a few minutes to examine and diagnose a palpable mass. Among 45 carcinomas, 39 lesions were correctly diagnosed, four lesions were not detected by ultrasound and two were misdiagnosed as fibroadenomas. On the other hand, ten benign lesions were falsely diagnosed as breast cancers: seven mastopathies (including four sclerosing adenosis), two fibroadenomas and one abscess. The sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing breast cancer were 0.87 and 0.90 respectively. Real-time sonography is a simple, time-saving and useful tool for examining palpable breast masses. However, it should be realised that some breast cancers are difficult to image and differentiate from benign lesions.