Breast Microcalcifications Classification: Radiologic-Pathologic Correlation

ObjectiveMicrocalcifications play a very important role in detection of breast cancer, especially early-stage breast cancer. However, ambiguity still existed in understanding the relationship between radiologic and pathologic characteristics of microcalcifications, attributing to the poor quality of conventional analogous film-screen image. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship of mammographic breast microcalcifications classification to the pathologic characteristics using full-field digital mammography.Material and methods103 mammographic files showing clustered microcalcifications from 103 women were prospectively reviewed and pathologic records were retrospectively drawn. For all women an open biopsy had been conducted.ResultsThere were 67 malignant lesions (65%) and 38 benign lesions (35%). In the univariate analysis, four radiologic variables were significant: morphologic type (p=0.001), combination with a mass (P=0.002), number of calcifications per cluster (P=0.02), and linear distribution (P=0.009). In the multivariate analysis, two criteria remained significant: morphologic type (P<0.001) and combination with a mass (P=0.001). The relationship of subgroup microcalcifications to the pathologic characteristics according to different microcalcifications morphologic classification was also studied. In subgroups, no criterion was statistically...