Comparison of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis and Digital Mammography for Detection of Breast Cancer in Kuwaiti Women

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the sensitivity and specificity of digital mammography (DM) and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) for the detection of breast cancer in comparison to histopathology findings. Subjects and Methods: We included 65 breast lesions in 58 women, each detected by two diagnostic mammography techniques – DM and DBT using Senographe Essential (GE Healthcare, Buc, France) – and subsequently confirmed by histopathology. The Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System was used for characterizing the lesions. Results: The average age of women was 48.3 years (range 26–81 years). There were 34 malignant and 31 benign breast lesions. The sensitivity of DM and DBT was 73.5 and 100%, respectively, while the specificity was 67.7 and 94%, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed an overall diagnostic advantage of DBT over DM, with a significant difference between DBT and DM (p < 0.001). By performing Cohen’s kappa test, we found that there was a strong level of agreement according to Altman guidelines between DBT and histopathology findings (0.97), but a weak agreement between DM and histopathology findings (0.47). Conclusion: DBT improves the clinical accuracy of mammography by increasing both sensitivity and specificity. We believe that this improvement is due to improved image visibility and quality. These results could be of interest to health care institutions as they may impact their decision on whether to upgrade to DBT not only for diagnosis, but also for screening.

Comparative study between contrast-enhanced mammography, tomosynthesis, and breast ultrasound as complementary techniques to mammography in dense breast parenchyma

“…Our results were comparable with Bian et al [25] and Asbeutah et al [26] where they also found that DBT showed increased sensitivity and specificity compared to mammography in dense breasts. Phi et al [27] performed a meta-analysis on DBT in dense breasts for screening or diagnosis.…”

Comparing the diagnostic efficacy of digital breast tomosynthesis with full-field digital mammography using BI-RADS scoring

“…Phi et al [10] and Asbeutah et al [16] performed a meta-analysis on tomosynthesis in dense breasts for screening and diagnosis. They concluded that DBT increased sensitivity and the cancer detection rate in screening and diagnosis in comparison to mammography alone.…”

Comparison of radiation doses between diagnostic full‐field digital mammography (FFDM) and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT): a clinical study

“…DBT has been implemented as a diagnostic tool rather than a screening technique for the past six years in our country and for many years in some parts of the world 9 . A previously published research paper 10 concluded that the translation of this technology may impact clinically by early detection of a breast lesion and further improvement in patient management, whether used for screening or diagnostic purposes. However, limited work has been published on radiation doses from DBT or a combination of DBT and FFDM for a range of clinically relevant mammographic parameters 11–14 .…”