Сontrast enhanced spectral mammography as a tool for accurate diagnosis of cancer on the background of the dense breast tissue

Introduction. Differential diagnosis of some pathological processes in the breast is difficult on the background of dense breast tissue. This often leads to false conclusions and to late diagnosis of breast cancer (BC) or unreasonable biopsy in a benign process. 50% of breast cancers detected less than 12 months after elective mammography were associated with high density of breast tissue. An important advantage of contrast enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) is that it does not depend on the size of the lesions and the X-ray density of the breast tissue. Objective. To compare the diagnostic performance of CESM and digital mammography (DM) in detection of breast cancer in a group of women with dense breast tissue.

Materials and methods. The data of 438 patients with suspected breast cancer examined from August 2018 to January 2021 were analyzed in the study. The mean age of women was 50 ± 11 years (from 21 to 86 years). In the study group 154 (35%) malignant and 284 (65%) benign lesions were identified. All lesions were histologically verified. Breast tissue density corresponded to types A and B in 161 patients and corresponded to C and D types in 277 patients according to the ACR classification. 154 cases of breast cancer were identified, including 49 patients with density A and B and 105 patients with density C and D types.

Results. Sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of DM were 85.7%, 87.3%, 86.8%, respectively. Diagnostic performance of CESM significantly higher than of DM with sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 96.8% (p < 0.001), 93.3% (p = 0.015), 94.5% (p < 0.001), respectively. CESM had high positive and negative predictive values of 88.7% (p = 0.012) and 98.1% (p < 0.001), which exceeded those of DM – 78.6% and 91.9%, respectively. The diagnostic performance of DM and CESM were comparable in women with normal breast density (types A and B according to ACR), but in patients with high breast density (types C and D according to ACR), CESM was significantly more sensitive in detecting breast cancer.

Conclusion. Thus, diagnostic efficiency of CESM in detecting breast cancer significantly higher in comparison with digital mammography.

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