US alone compares well to mammography for cancer detection

Could ultrasound serve as the primary screening test for breast cancer? Perhaps, according to Dr. Wendie Berg, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh. In this Sunday morning presentation, Berg will discuss results from a study that used American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) 6666 data to evaluate outcomes of screening if ultrasound were the primary screening modality.

For the study, 2,662 participants from 21 sites in the U.S., Canada, and Argentina completed three annual rounds of screening (a total of 7,473 exams) with mammography and whole-breast ultrasound performed and interpreted by physicians. In the fourth year, each participant had either biopsy or a 12-month clinical follow-up.

The cohort included 110 women who were diagnosed with 111 breast cancer events, 80% of which were invasive. The total number of cancers detected by ultrasound or mammography was comparable, at 58 out of 111 (53%) versus 59 out of 111 (53%). Berg's group also found that the vast majority of the cancers detected by ultrasound were invasive (53 out of 58, or 91%), compared with 41 out of 59 (69%) by mammography.

Cancer detection with ultrasound alone compares favorably to mammography alone, and ultrasound offers greater detection of node-negative invasive cancer than mammography, according to the researchers.