Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the significance of a non-mass lesion (NML) which is recognized during screening breast ultrasound (US).
Materials and methods: We included patients with a NML on screening breast US and no suspicious finding on mammography between March 2008 and June 2012. The final diagnoses were based on pathology results and a clinical or sonographic follow-up for more than 12 months. We calculated the incidence, likelihood of malignancy, and positive predictive value (PPV) of biopsy with a review of imaging and histopathological findings.
Results: A total of 17868 screening breast US were performed in 8856 asymptomatic patients. Ninety-five NMLs were detected in 88 patients (1.0%). Among the 93 lesions that were followed or confirmed histopathologically, 2 (2.2%) were malignant, 89 (95.6%) were benign, and 2 (2.2%) were high risk lesions. The likelihood of malignancy in a NML on screening breast US was 2.2% and the PPV of biopsy was 6.3% (2 of 32).
Conclusion: The likelihood of malignancy for a NML on screening breast US was greater than 2%. It could be classified as a BI-RADS category 4a lesion and tissue diagnosis is warranted. This provides the potential management guidelines for a NML in screening patients and further prospective studies in a large, multicenter screening population are required.