The role of automated breast ultrasound in the assessment of the local extent of breast cancer.

Automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) is a non-invasive advanced ultrasound modality. The degree of extension of the cancer within the breast is very important to choose the appropriate kind of surgery/therapy. In the current work, the aim was to evaluate the role of the ABUS in the assessment of the local extent of the breast cancer before management. This is a prospective analysis that studied 562 female patients with proved breast cancers. Evaluation was in regard of the size, multiplicity, and the stromal invasion (ie, the presence of tumor emboli or tumor masses within the stroma of the breast tissue) around the tumor. Cases were subjected to automated breast ultrasound performed in the axial and coronal planes. ABUS showed high accuracy of assessment of the tumor multiplicity (82.2%) and the stromal involvement (93.5%). There was a statistical significance (P < .001) between the ABUS and the pathology regarding the measurement of the size of the index cancer. In conclusion, ABUS could be used for determination of the intramammary extend of the breast cancer. ABUS provided accurate assessment of the peritumor stromal involvement and multiplicity of the cancer which is required to choose the proper choice of surgery.