Objective: The objective of our study was to identify characteristic features of invasive lobular carcinoma on mammography and ultrasound examinations.
Materials and methods: This is a retrospective multicenter study of women with biopsy-proven invasive lobular carcinoma. All patients had undergone diagnostic sonomammography. The imaging findings were identified by experienced breast imagers. Final surgical pathology results were used as the reference standard.
Results: Thirty-two women ranging in age from 42 to 63 years old (mean age, 53 years), All had biopsy-proven invasive lobular carcinomas. Common features on mammogram included dense mass followed by architectural distortion; three cases showed breast asymmetry and one case was reported as normal. On ultrasound, common features included solid mass with spiculated margins, posterior shadowing, and perpendicular to the skin.
Conclusion: Although no specific features could be linked to invasive lobular carcinoma, care should be directed to subtle signs such as architectural distortion and breast asymmetry in order not to miss any lesions. The combination of mammographic and sonographic helps to decrease the relatively high false negative diagnosis of this type of breast cancer.
Keywords: breast; cancer; mammography; ultrasound.