Abstract

Annual Screening Mammogram and its Relation to Breast Density

Background: Current national screening programs totally depend on mammographic evaluation. After increased incidence of breast cancer in women under the age of 35, mammography sensitivity in now a question. Several factors added to decrease sensitivity of mammography, such as increased density in older age groups and increased aggressiveness of tumour biology. All these factors will change the reliability of the screening program. The study is a retrospective study conducted at Ain Shams University. Method: 138 patients diagnosed with cancer breast underwent both mammography and sonography to determine percentage of patient with more than one focus, age and density distribution breast cancer in the affected patient and accuracy of both mammography and US. Results: By studying this population, we found that around 61,44% have areas of density ranging from dense breast, heterogenous density or scattered density. These areas of density render the mammography a less sensitive tool as its sensitivity fall to 34.09%, while that of US was 77.27%. Conclusion: As breast cancer is prevalent in younger population, also with increased density in older population who are relatively insensitive to mammography, we recommended the use of Automated Breast Ultrasound (ABUS) in the national screening program.

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