Nonpalpable breast lesions: correlation of the BI-RADS classification and histologic findings]

Diagnosis of nonpalpable breast lesions too often requires a breast biopsy or tumorectomy.To validate the American College of Radiology (ACR) classification and lexicon using a standardized description to improve the uniformity of management of abnormal mammographic lesions and reduce the number of unnecessary tumorectomies.This prospective study was conducted in Libreville Hospital Center over a 4-year period and compared the histologic results of 150 nonpalpable masses identified by mammography and their ACR classification to assess the correlation between the radiographic and histologic findings.There were 90 cases (60%) of ACR2 lesions, 28 cases (18%) of ACR3, 6 cases (4%) of ACR4 and 26 cases (17%) of ACR5 lesions. Histologic results showed that 3% of the ACR2 lesions were malignant, 11% of the ACR3, 67% of the ACR4 and 92% of the ACR5 lesions.The correlations showed that the ACR classification was highly reliable for ACR2 and ACR5 lesions and makes it possible to optimize their treatment. ACR3 and ACR4 lesions must be watched carefully.