Purpose: To describe the characteristics of malignant breast tumors occult at mammography and detected by 3D Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) (somo.v ® U-Systems, Inc. Sunnyvale, CA, USA) in a service screening program.
Methods and Material: Between November 2010 and February 2012, 1676 asymptomatic screened women presenting with more than 50 % density in the breasts at visual mammographic assessment were enrolled. Bilateral ABUS acquisitions were obtained and reviewed in combination with double-read two-view full-field digital mammography (FFDM).
Results: The cancer detection rate increased from 0,42 % to 0,65 % when ABUS was added to FFDM without causing any increase of recall rate( 3% before the study and 2,3%under).
In total 11 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, 4 of them detected by ABUS only. Without ABUS they would not have been recalled in the screening program and their cancer would have been missed.
One of these became obvious at complementary mammographic work-up.
One case selected for both ABUS and FFDM had a mammographic work up considered as normal, but ABUS and hands-on ultrasound revealed 4 cancer foci.
All of these 4 cancer detected by ABUS only were invasive ductal with a larger diameter of at least 1,3cm.
Conclusion: ABUS detected only invasive cancers in our study and increased the detection rate without increasing the recall rate.
