Ultrasonographic Features Predictive of Malignancy in Intraductal Papillary Neoplasm of the Breast

INTRODUCTION: To detect and evaluate features of gray scale B-mode ultrasonographic examination findings that may predict malignancy in intraductal lesions of the breast.
METHODS: In this retrospective study, 650 cases examined at Bezmialem Vakıf University Department of Radiology between January 2018 and December 2019 were scanned. Fifty-two female cases who were diagnosed with intraductal papillary lesions on gray scale B-mode US examination and underwent core biopsy were included.
RESULTS: Lesions were evaluated according to their largest size (4-50 mm, median 13 mm); the largest size of the lesion was found to be higher in the malignant group than in the benign group (p=0.008). As a result of our ROC analysis in terms of predicting benign and malignant outcomes with the largest size of the lesion, AUC=0.764, sensitivity 81.8%, specificity 70.7%, and cut-off>10.5 mm (p=0.001). According to this result, lesions over 10.5 mm are more likely to be malignant.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: There is a lot of benign/malignant overlap in the radiological features of papillary lesions. We found the lesion size to be the most important feature in this distinction. Therefore, in cases that warrant suspicion, performing a core needle biopsy may be indispensable.