[Comparison of mammography and automated sonography in 700 patients]

700 patients underwent routinely x-ray mammography and breast ultrasound with an automated grey-scale breast scanner. The parenchymal pattern of the ultrasound B-scan was morphological identical to the x-ray film. The echogram gave further informations about the topographic localisation of pathologic lesions to the chest wall including the pectoral muscles. The sonogram was of no value in 10 percent due to diffuse reflection of the breast. In cystic disease the diagnostic accuracy of the ultrasound was with about 100 percent superior to that of x-ray mammography. On the contrary the accuracy of the x-ray mammography was higher than that of ultrasound in the diagnosis of benign or malignant solids. Benign adenoma smaller than 1 cm could not be definetively recognised as carcinoma of this size. The diagnostic accuracy of the sonogram was 70 percent by 40 histologically proved carcinomas. The only use of the automated scanner in the diagnostics of the breast seams to be not justified, even not as a screening method, especially because small tumors with good prognosis are not recognized, however, the ultrasound gives additional important informations in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions of the female breast.