BREAST TUMOR

Accurate preoperative assessment of tumor size in breast cancer is important forchoosing appropriate treatment. Mammography & sonography both have been used to predicttumor size but there have been conflicting reports about their accuracy. Some studies havementioned ultrasound to be more accurate than mammography in the preoperative assessmentof breast tumor size. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the correlation ofmammography and ultrasound in the preoperative assessment of breast tumor size in patientswith breast cancer taking pathological tumor size as gold standard. Study Design: It was across-sectional survey. Setting: Radiology department SKMCH & RC Lahore. Period: Studywas completed over a period of 6 months from Nov 09, 2008 to May 08, 2009. Subjects andMethods: Eighty cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected. After informed consent,bilateral mammography and breast ultrasound were done in all the patients. Pathologicalmeasurements were done after surgery in the longest diameter of the specimen. Mammographicand ultrasonographic measurements were correlated with pathological measurementsusing Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results: Ultrasonographic measurements correlatedmore accurately with the pathological measurements as compared to mammographicmeasurements. Correlation coefficient “r” was 0.944 for ultrasound measurements versus 0.898for mammographic measurements. Correlation was higher for lesions of 20 mm or less in therelargest diameter than for larger tumors. Conclusion: Ultasonography is a more accurate toolfor preoperative assessment of breast tumor size especially for small sized tumors of less than20 mm.