Diagnoses Of Breast Masses With Ultrasonography And Elastography

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. Noninvasive diagnosis of breast cancer has been a major clinical problem. Mammography and sonography are currently the most sensitive modalities for detecting breast cancer. However, the sonographic features for benign and malignant lesions have been shown to override each other substantially. Because of various limitations of mammography, sonography and the great desire not to miss a malignant lesion in the early stage of disease lead to aggressive biopsy. Nevertheless, only 10 to 30 per cent biopsy results are found to be malignant. This means that 70 to 90 per cent of breast biopsies are performed for benign diseases, which induce unnecessary patient discomfort and anxiety in addition to increasing costs to the patient. In order to solve these problems, we can use Elastography, a diagnostic imaging procedure, similar to ultrasound imaging that helps doctors differentiate between malignant tumours and benign tumours for avoiding unnecessary biopsy.