gms | German Medical Science

27th German Cancer Congress Berlin 2006

German Cancer Society (Frankfurt/M.)

22. - 26.03.2006, Berlin

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Influence of Mammographic Density on the Diagnostic Accuracy of Tumor Size Assessment and Association with Breast Cancer Tumor Characteristics

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Katharina Heusinger - Frauenklinik des Universitätsklinikums Erlangen, Deutschland
  • Christian Löhberg - Frauenklinik des Universitätsklinikums Erlangen
  • Christian Löhberg - Frauenklinik des Universitätsklinikums Erlangen
  • Evelyn Wenkel - Institut für diagnostische Radiologie, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
  • Mayada R. Bani - Frauenklinik des Universitätsklinikums Erlangen
  • Michael P. Lux - Frauenklinik des Universitätsklinikums Erlangen
  • Michael Schrauder - Frauenklinik des Universitätsklinikums Erlangen
  • Thomas Koscheck - Institut für Pathologie, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
  • Werner Bautz - Institut für diagnostische Radiologie, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
  • Rüdiger Schulz-Wendtland - Institut für diagnostische Radiologie, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
  • Matthias W. Beckmann - Frauenklinik des Universitätsklinikums Erlangen
  • Peter A. Fasching - Frauenklinik des Universitätsklinikums Erlangen

27. Deutscher Krebskongress. Berlin, 22.-26.03.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. DocPO013

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dkk2006/06dkk123.shtml

Published: March 20, 2006

© 2006 Heusinger et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Purpose: The accuracy of breast cancer staging involves the estimation of the tumor size for the initial treatment decision. We investigated the accuracy of tumor size estimation and the association between tumor characteristics and breast density (BD).

Materials and Methods: A total of 434 women with the diagnosis of primary breast cancer were included in this prospective study at the University Breast Center Franken (UBF). Estimated tumor characteristics included tumor size, nodal status, estrogen/progesterone receptor status, Ki-67, HER2/neu, vascular or lymphatic invasion. Radiomorphological data included tumor size as assessed by mammography, breast ultrasonography, and clinical examination, and American College of Radiology (ACR) categories for BD.

Results: BD did not have a significant impact on the assessment of tumor size using breast ultrasound (deviation from ACR categories 1–4: 0.55–0.68cm; P=0.331). The deviation in mammography was significantly different dependent on BD (0.42–0.9cm; P<0.001). The clinical examination was not affected by BD. Age and tumor size were the only parameters associated with a denser breast in the multivariate analysis. Older women were less likely to have dense breasts (odds ratio 0.157 for women aged >70years), and patients with larger tumors were less likely to have dense breasts (OR 0.36 for tumors >2cm).

Conclusion: Breast ultrasonography is more accurate than mammography for assessing tumor size in breasts with a higher BD. The difference in tumor size assessment needs to be taken into consideration in the design of clinical trials and treatment decisions.