Contrast-enhanced Dedicated Breast CT: Initial Clinical Experience

Contrast-enhanced Dedicated Breast CT: Initial Clinical Experience
Nicolas D. Prionas, Karen K. Lindfors, Shonket Ray, Shih-Ying Huang, Laurel A. Beckett, Wayne L. Monsky, and John M. Boone
Radiology 2010;256 714-723

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Conspicuity of malignant breast masses at contrast-enhanced breast CT is significantly better than that at mammography or unenhanced breast CT, whereas conspicuity of lesions associated with malignant calcifications is better at contrast-enhanced breast CT than at unenhanced breast CT and is similar at contrast-enhanced breast CT and mammography

Learning Points:

Malignant mass lesions are significantly more conspicuous than benign lesions at contrast-enhanced dedicated breast CT when compared with mammography and unenhanced breast CT (P < .001 for each comparison).

Visualization of malignant calcifications (malignant lesions manifested mammographically as microcalcifications only) at contrast-enhanced breast CT is improved over that at unenhanced breast CT (P < .001) and is similar to that at mammography (P = .64).

Malignant breast lesions enhance by a mean of 38 HU more than do benign lesions (P < .001), and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis yields an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.876

Dedicated Breast CT: Initial Clinical Experience

Karen K. Lindfors, John M. Boone, Thomas R. Nelson, Kai Yang, Alexander L. C. Kwan, and DeWitt F. Miller
Radiology 2008;246 725-733

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Masses are significantly more conspicuous on breast CT images compared with screen-film mammograms, but microcalcification lesions are not as well visualized on our early-generation dedicated breast CT images