Ultrasonography increases sensitivity of mammography for diagnosis of multifocal, multicentric breast cancer using 356 whole breast histopathology as a gold standard

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of ultrasonography and mammography for the detection of multifocal, multicentric breast cancers. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed in 356 patients who underwent mastectomy. Preoperative diagnosis of malignant foci by ultrasonography and mammography were reviewed and compared with final pathological reports of the whole breast which was considered a gold standard. Results: Seventy-six patients (21.3%) had multifocal, multicentric cancers diagnosed from whole breast histopathology. Overall sensitivity for detection of additional tumour was 25.4% for mammography, 44% for ultrasonography. The sensitivity for combined methods was 50.8% (p < .05). Conclusion: Using mammography and ultrasonography for preoperative diagnosis of breast cancer will miss almost half of cases with multifocal multicentric cancers. To achieve curative outcome when performing breast conserving surgery, preoperative investigation with only mammography and ultrasonography may be inadequate.