Contribution of Ultrasonography and Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology to the Differential Diagnosis of Palpable Solid Breast Lesions

Purpose: To define the role of ultrasonography (US) and fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) relative to mammography in differentiating between benign and malignant palpable solid breast lesions, and to assess the contribution of FNAB cytology to the delay between referral and the definitive diagnosis of breast cancer.Material and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the mammograms and US images of 84 palpable breast lesions, 63 of them also blindly. The lesions were classified as benign, indeterminate or malignant by both modalities. The results were compared with histologic diagnoses. The cytologic reports of 57 lesions were reviewed and compared to the final diagnoses. The delay from referral until diagnosis was calculated for each case.Results: Eighty-one of the 84 lesions (96%) were visible as a local abnormality at US. Fifty-two of the 53 cancers were seen as a tumor (n=51) or an architectural distortion (n=1). In the blinded analysis, the sensitivity of FNAB cytology was 92%, specificity 83%, and o...