COMPARISON OF MAMMOGRAPHY AND ULTRASOUND COMBINED VERSUS ULTRASOUND ALONE IN EARLY EVALUATION OF SYMPTOMATIC BREAST CANCERS IN PAKISTAN

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to detect diagnostic accuracy of mammography and ultrasound combined versus ultrasound alone in early evaluation of symptomatic breast lesions. Materials and Methods: All new patients who presented to the breast clinic with symptomatic breast lesions, during the year 2012, were included in the study. A total of 695 patients were registered. Their clinical findings, mammogram, ultrasound and histopathology were reviewed. Results: Mammogram and ultrasound combined detected 693 (99.71%) lesions in total. Mammogram failed to detect lesions in 1.43% of patients, whereas the failure rate of ultrasound was 0.43%. The incidence of microcalcifications on mammogram was 19.13%. Conclusion: Ultrasound is a useful tool in the initial evaluation of symptomatic breasts. For places such as Pakistan where mammogram is not available at every centre, ultrasound can be used as an effective alternative for the assessment of symptomatic breast lesions. Key words: Breast cancer, mammography, ultrasound