Mammography versus ultrasonography in detecting mucinous breast carcinoma of different pathomorphological types

Objective Reports are rarely seen in domestic literature about the mammographic and ultrasonographic manifestations of mucinous breast carcinoma(MBC).The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of mammography and ultrasonography in the detection of MBC.Methods We retrospectively analyzed 14 cases of MBC.Nine of the cases were of the simple type,and the other 5 mixed type pathologically.We compared the clinical characteristics and pathological results with preoperative mammographic and ultrasonographic findings.Results Mammography showed an accuracy of 57.1%(8/14) as compared with 28.6%(4/14) for ultrasonography in detecting MBC,but the combination of the two approaches resulted in an accuracy of 64.3%(9/14).Mammography exhibited a detection rate of 55.6%(5/9) for simple MBC,and 50%(1/2) for the mixed type of lymph node,while ultrasonography showed a detection rate of 22.2%(2/9) for simple MBC,and 100%(2/2) for the mixed type of lymph node.Conclusion Mammography combined with ultrasonography can improve the diagnostic accuracy in detecting MBC.The former is even better,especially for the simple type,but the latter has more advantages in detecting the lymph node and dense gland.