SPIRAL CT OF THE BREAST

Aim: To evaluate the use of spiral CT in the diagnosis of breast lesio ns. Material and methods: 93 female patients with suspicious or uncert ain mammographic findings were examined by CT before and after contras t enhancement according to the following practical method: table movem ent, 6 mm/s, slice thickness 6 mm, increment 4 mm, contrast 200 ml, in jection rate 3 ml/s, scan start 50 s after the beginning of the inject ion. Histological confirmation was present in 85 patients. Results: Al l 44 invasive carcinomas were recognised. They were characterised by i ntensive focal contrast uptake. Only 2 out of 7 intraductal carcinomas were not shown by CT. 36 out of 38 benign lesions were correctly diag nosed. 2 out of 11 fibroadenomas showed strong enhancement and were in correctly diagnosed. The examinations provided valuable additional inf ormation compared to mammography and sonography. Conclusion: Spiral CT is very useful for elucidating problems in the diagnosis of breast le sions. Its advantages consist in the speed of the method, comfort for the patient, absence of movement artifacts, easy standardisation and w ide applicability.