Value of Digital Breast Tomosynthesis versus Additional Views for the Assessment of Screen-Detected Abnormalities - a First Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to countercheck the equivalence of single-view digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) or DBT with additional views (DBT+AV) compared to traditional standard assessment by additional views (AV) in patients with a screen-detected abnormality.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with a screen-detected abnormality were consecutively invited to obtain 1 single-view wide-angle DBT in addition to the indicated AV. The study was approved by the local ethics committee and by the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

RESULTS: This study is based on 311 lesions in 285 patients with a follow-up of > 2 years and/or biopsy. Counting BI-RADS 0 and 3 as positive calls, the sensitivity/specificity of DBT+AV versus DBT only versus AV only were 96.4/54.3%, 96.4/56.6%, and 90.9/42.2%, respectively. The specificities and BI-RADS classifications differed significantly (p < 0.01). AV appeared unnecessary in 88.8% of the cases.

CONCLUSION: DBT appeared to be at least equivalent to AV for assessing indeterminate screen-detected lesions and could replace AV for most lesions. To obtain the extra information appears possible without increasing the overall radiation dose. Subsequent blinded reader studies are ongoing.