Diagnostic Performance of Automated Breast Ultrasound as a Replacement for a Hand-Held Second-Look Ultrasound for Breast Lesions Detected Initially on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) after breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a replacement for hand-held second-look ultrasound (HH-SLUS), we evaluated 58 consecutive patients with breast cancer who had additional suspicious lesions on breast MRI. All patients underwent HH-SLUS and ABUS. Three breast radiologists evaluated the detectability, location, characteristics and conspicuity of lesions on ABUS. We also evaluated inter-observer variability and compared the results with HH-SLUS results. Eighty additional suspicious lesions were identified on breast MRI. Fifteen of the 80 lesions (19%) were not detected on HH-SLUS. Eight of the 15 lesions (53%) were detected on ABUS, whereas the remaining 7 were not detected on ABUS. Among the 65 lesions detected on HH-SLUS, only 3 lesions were not detected on ABUS. The intra-class correlation coefficients for lesion location and size all exceeded 0.70, indicating high reliability. Moderate to fair agreement was found for mass shape, orientation, margin and Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) final assessment. Therefore, ABUS can reliably detect additional suspicious lesions identified on breast MRI and may help in the decision on biopsy guidance method (US vs. MRI) as a replacement tool for HH-SLUS.