ECHOGENICITY OF FIBROADENOMA AND CARCINOMA OF THE BREAST - QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON USING GAIN-ASSISTED DENSITOMETRIC EVALUATION OF SONOGRAMS

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of ultrasonography in differentiation between the echogenic characteristics of carcinoma and those of fibroadenoma of the breast. Two mathematical transformati ons of the measured density on a sonographic image of the breast lesio n at three different system gain settings were used in cases of carcin oma (n = 16) and fibroadenoma (n = 31) to provide standardized density values. A significant correlation was found between the tumor and the surrounding tissue densities in both carcinomas (r = 0.77, P = 0.0004 ) and fibroadenomas (r = 0.79, P < 0.000001. The mean standardized den sity of the tumor was significantly higher (P < 0.0001) than the surro unding tissue in both carcinomas (2.03 +/- 0.64 D versus 1.23 +/- 0.38 D) and fibroadenomas (2.09 +/- 0.48 D versus 1.33 +/- 0.3 D). However , the differences between density values of carcinoma and fibroadenoma were not significantly different. The data suggest that it may not be possible to differentiate breast carcinomas and fibroadenomas on the basis of the echogenicity of solid breast masses.