Objective To assess the ultrasonographic characteristics of the benign and malignant calcification in breasts, in order to differentiaiate the benign and malignant breast tumors. Methods Breast calcifications in 64 patients were retrospectively reviewed and compared with pathology as well as mammography. The ultrasonographic characteristics of the breast benign and malignant calcifications were analyzed for improving the differential diagnosis. Results All of the 64 patients had pathologic results. There were 30 cases with benign calcification and 34 with malignant calcification. The characteristics of malignant calcification revealed nodules, with microcalcification appearing multiple punctuation, cluster without acoustic shadowing and absence of color Doppler twinkling artifact. The benigh calcification revealed small amount of coarse, aniso-shape, plague-like or ball like nodular or non-nodular focuses with back shadowing and color Doppler twinkling artifact. The detection rate of the micro calcification between the benign and malignant tumors was significantly different (P0.05). The constituent ratio of micro calcification, coarse calcification and plaque calcification have extremely significant difference between the benign and malignant tumors (P0.01). The sensibility、specificity and accuracy of the ultrasound in diagnosing breast cancer were 94.1%, 93.3%and 93.8% respectively, indicating no significant difference between the ultrasound and the mammography. Conclusions Ultrasound and the mammography are all the important modelities for the diagnosis of breast calcification. The ultrasonographic characteristics of the benign and malignant calcification may conduce the differential diagnosis of breast tumors.
