Original scientific paper
The value of diagnostic methods to detect pathologic changes in the breast
Ljerka Eljuga
; Eljuga Polyclinic, Zagreb, Croatia
Ilona Sušac
; Eljuga Polyclinic, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
For diagnosing pathologic changes in the breast, depending on age, clinical examination combined with ultrasound, mammography and cytology are most commonly used. Any positive finding requires a biopsy for a final diagnosis. The biopsy precedes surgical treatment usually performed during the same operative session. To assess the value of some diagnostic methods for detection of pathologic breast changes a retrospective study was carried out on a sample of 78 patients diagnosed and treated at the Eljuga Polyclinic from March 1999 to March 2003. In diagnosing for pathohistologic changes, the aforementioned methods were applied in all of the 78 studied patients (aged 23-77). The patients were assigned to two age groups including patients over 35 (mean age 49) and under 35 yrs of age (mean age 29), respectively. The first group was further divided into 6 subgroups, depending on the correlation between a particular diagnostic method and final pathohistologic finding. The correspondence between pathohistologic finding and all other diagnostic procedures was as follows: clinical examination, US, mammography and cytological analysis showed accuracy in 92.30% (72/78), 96.15% (75/78), 92.53% (62/67, excluding 11 patients <35 yrs not requiring mammography – benign changes), and 84.62 % (64/73, technically failed samples excluded) of the cases, respectively. Ultrasound breast imaging demonstrated superior accuracy over mammography, clinical examination and cytologic puncture. The results lead to the conclusion that in the majority of breast patients, a combination of several diagnostic methods should be used to get an accurate diagnosis.
Keywords
breast tumors; clinical examination; ultrasound; mammography; cytology
Hrčak ID:
281519
URI
Publication date:
30.11.2005.
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