DIAGNOSTIC EVALUATION OF SONOGRAPHICALLY VISUALIZED BREAST-LESIONS BYUSING A NEW CLINICAL AMPLITUDE VELOCITY REFERENCE IMAGING TECHNIQUE (CARI SONOGRAPHY)/

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES. The goal of this study was to evaluate and d ifferentiate breast lesions in patients by sonographic measurements pe rformed using CARI sonography. METHODS. Thirty-one patients with 33 hi stologically proven breast lesions were examined by mammography, conve ntional ultrasound sonography, and CARI sonography, Investigation with mammography-like positioning was performed in case of CARI sonography , The ratios of the lesion diameters were calculated in a craniocaudal and a mediolateral plane, The results were compared with the results obtained with conventional modalities. RESULTS. Breast lesions were de tected with the best sensitivity (100%) and a high specificity (86%) u sing B-mode ultrasound sonography, Mammography resulted in a sensitivi ty of 92% and a specificity of 91%, whereas the CARI sonography yielde d 100% sensitivity and 67% specificity. CONCLUSIONS. The differentiati on of lesions by measurements performed with CARI sonography resulted in a high sensitivity. The specificity, however, was inferior compared with the other imaging modalities. This may limit the routine applica tion of the technique for clinical diagnoses of breast lesions. Howeve r, due to the small number of patients investigated in this pilot stud y, the full potential should be evaluated in a larger collective of pa tients.