[Role of ultrasonics in the diagnosis of subclinical carcinoma of the breast].

The authors report the results of a retrospective multicentric study concerning the sonographic diagnosis of subclinical breast cancer, 11,254 patients were examined by means of mammography, with last-generation mammographic equipment, and by means of real-time US with 7.5-10 MHz transducer. Fifty-seven subclinical breast cancers were identified and histologically confirmed. US detected 30/57 neoplastic lesions, versus mammography 47/57; in particular, US identified 10 cancers missed at mammography, while the latter detected 27 malignant lesions missed at US. Mammographic accuracy in the early detection of breast cancers was 82.4%, while US accuracy was 52.6%. Mammographic false negatives were due to opacity of the glandular parenchyma. US false negatives presented at mammography as microcalcifications (67%), lesions less than 1 cm phi (22%), and indirect signs (11%). The results of this study demonstrate the important role of US in women with radiographically-dense parenchymal patterns, but confirm the superiority of mammography in the detection of subclinical breast cancer.