A comparison of mammography and ultrasound in women with breast disease: a receiver operating characteristic analysis

The purpose of this study was to compare mammography and sonography, as well as their combination, for detecting breast tumors in symptomatic patients. The effects of age and hormonal status were also examined. From 1999 to 2007, 549 patients underwent 665 examination sessions (mammography and ultrasound). Abnormalities were deemed positive if biopsy findings revealed malignancy and negative if findings from biopsy or all screening examinations were negative. On pathology, 246 lesions were malignant and 419 were benign in the 549 patients. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of mammography and sonography were 81.71% and 95.53%, 85.44% and 80.43%, 76.72% and 74.13%, 88.83% and 96.84%, and 0.886 and 0.948, respectively. The sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy among patients <50 years of age were significantly higher for sonography than for mammography (p < 0.05). The sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy among premenopausal or perimenopausal patients were significantly higher for sonography than for mammography (p < 0.05). The sensitivity among postmenopausal patients was significantly higher for sonography than for mammography (p < 0.05). The results of combined mammography and sonography were classified using American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS). There were 244 positive and two negative examinations of malignant lesions, and 106 positive and 313 negative examinations of benign lesions. The diagnostic accuracy of the combination was significantly higher than that of mammography (p < 0.05) and similar to that of sonography (p > 0.05). Sonography had better sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy than mammography for diagnosing breast diseases, while their specificities were similar. The diagnostic accuracy of diagnostic sonography was significantly better than that of mammography among patients <50 years of age and premenopausal or perimenopausal patients. The combination of mammography and sonography increased the sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy.