Prospective sonographic study of 3093 breast tumors

To evaluate the predictive ability of sonographic tumor characteristics to differentiate benign from malignant tumors, we examined 3093 breast tumors (2360 benign and 733 malignant tumors) with ultrasonography. The ratio of t he longest dimension to the anteroposterior diameter of benign tumors was s ignificantly larger than that of malignant tumors (1.88 +/- 0.1 versus 1.69 +/- 0.02, P < 0.0001). Shape, margins, echogenicity, internal echo pattern , retro-tumor acoustic shadowing, compressibility, and microcalcification w ere significant factors in the logistic regression model. The sensitivity, specificity,positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accur acy of breast sonography for malignancy were 86.1, 66.1, 44.1, 93.9, and 70 .8%, respectively. Biopsy of the tumor for pathologic diagnosis is recommen ded if sonographic features are suggestive of malignancy.