Predicting mammographic density with linear ultrasound transducers.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9517857 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2047-783X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09492321 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Eur J Med Res Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Jan. 2012- : London : BioMed Central
Original Publication: Munich, Germany : I. Holzapfel, c1995-

Breast Density* ; Breast Neoplasms*/diagnostic imaging; Female ; Pregnancy ; Humans ; Lactation ; Mammography/methods ; Risk Factors ; Transducers

Background: High mammographic density (MD) is a risk factor for the development of breast cancer (BC). Changes in MD are influenced by multiple factors such as age, BMI, number of full-term pregnancies and lactating periods. To learn more about MD, it is important to establish non-radiation-based, alternative examination methods to mammography such as ultrasound assessments.
Methods: We analyzed data from 168 patients who underwent standard-of-care mammography and performed additional ultrasound assessment of the breast using a high-frequency (12 MHz) linear probe of the VOLUSON ^® 730 Expert system (GE Medical Systems Kretztechnik GmbH & Co OHG, Austria). Gray level bins were calculated from ultrasound images to characterize mammographic density. Percentage mammographic density (PMD) was predicted by gray level bins using various regression models.
Results: Gray level bins and PMD correlated to a certain extent. Spearman's ρ ranged from - 0.18 to 0.32. The random forest model turned out to be the most accurate prediction model (cross-validated R ² , 0.255). Overall, ultrasound images from the VOLUSON ^® 730 Expert device in this study showed limited predictive power for PMD when correlated with the corresponding mammograms.
Conclusions: In our present work, no reliable prediction of PMD using ultrasound imaging could be observed. As previous studies showed a reasonable correlation, predictive power seems to be highly dependent on the device used. Identifying feasible non-radiation imaging methods of the breast and their predictive power remains an important topic and warrants further evaluation. Trial registration 325-19 B (Ethics Committee of the medical faculty at Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany).
(© 2023. The Author(s).)

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Keywords: Breast cancer risk; Percent mammographic density; Ultrasound

Date Created: 20230928 Date Completed: 20231127 Latest Revision: 20231127

20240628

PMC10537934

10.1186/s40001-023-01327-9

37770952