BREAST-CANCER - ZONES OF INCREASED DENSITY MAMMOGRAPHIC FEATURES, CORRELATED TO CLINICAL TNM AND PROGNOSIS

From January 1981 to December 1995, 8421 patients having a mammographi c opacity corresponding to breast cancer were examined. The opacities were divided into two groups: zones of increased density (ZID), (1449 patients), and a reference group comprising all other types of opaciti es (6972 patients). Mammograms were reviewed retrospectively, as well as clinical, histological and biological parameters in both groups. Di agnosis of ZID was often difficult, sometime's guided by the presence of microcalcifications. which were more frequent. Sonogrpahy and direc t mammographic magnification proved to be particularly helpful for a c ollect diagnosis. Most prognostic factors were poorer in ZID as compar ed to the reference group. The 5 year survival rate was 78% (84% for t he reference group). Breast cancer that appears on mammograms as a ZID is often more difficult to diagnose and factors of poor prognosis are more often observed than in breast cancer with other types of opaciti es. To improve their detection sonography and direct mammographic magn ification call be very helpful. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ir eland Ltd.