Breast lumps screening

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Shadan Mehraban, M.D.[2]

Overview

Screening

The Screening methods of breast lesions:^[1]

Breast examination
- Self breast examination
  - Although this is controversial, most clinicians recommend women to perform self examination monthly.
- Clinical breast examination
  - Women with age> 40 years is recommended to have clinical breast examination, annually.
Ultrasound
- Whole breast ultrasound detects lesions in dense breast tissue which could not be diagnosed by mammography.^[2]
Mammography^[3]
- Gold standard test of screening
- Early detection of non-palpabale masses
- According to 2013 NCCN guidelines
  - Annual screening in average risk women aged ≥ 40 years
  - Annual screening in high risk women from age of 25 years
- Sensitivity of 0.33-0.39 and specificity of 0.95
Magnetic resonance imaging^[3]^[4]
- Significant method for detection, assessment, and management of breast cancer
- Sensitivity of 0.77-0.79 and specificity of 0.86-0.89
- According on 2013 NCCN guidelines
  - Annual MRI for individuals with > 20% risk of developing breast cancer in lifetime starting at age of 25 years
- Beneficial modality for screening in high risk individuals
- Valuable screening method in individuals with equivocal results from other screening tests
- Usable for individuals with ineffective mammography results due to breast augmentation

References

Overview