Considerations in breast imaging diagnosis

Certain points regarding breast imaging diagnosis are open to interpretation and are considered difficult to understand in the short course on mammography. For example, focal asymmetric density (FAD) may or may not include mass lesions. To assess whether FAD includes mass lesions or not, a comparison of density with equal gland volume, margins, and internal structure is important. Calcifications must be read carefully according to shape and distribution. The shapes of calcifications can be used to estimate the intra-ductal structure of breast cancer, but small round calcifications and amorphous calcifications can be interpreted as both benign and malignant lesions. Therefore, distribution brings important information to the assessment. Architectural distortion can be caused by fibrosis in both benign and malignant lesions. Lobular carcinoma and scirrhous carcinoma are the most common malignant diseases, but radial scar, inflammatory disease, and surgical scar need to be considered in the differential diagnosis. Finally, the pathological assessment of breast cancer and mammographic technology are basic, important factors in reading mammography.