Diagnostic Accuracy of Mammography in Detecting Breast Cancer Keeping Histopathology as Gold Standard

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of mammography in detecting breast cancer by mass screening of populations keeping histopathology as the gold standard. Study Design: Cross sectional validation study Place and Duration of Study: Department of Radiology, PIMS, SZABMU, Islamabad for 3 months from December 2015 to February 2016. Materials Methods: The study encompassed 210 mammograms of females aged between 40 and 75 years. The patients were referred from the Islamabad Capital Territory to PIMS, General Surgery Department. BIRADS score of IV to VI was set as positive diagnosis of breast cancer cases. The patients were confirmed according to histopathology report. Results: Of the 210 study cases, there were 32 (15.2%) patients having BIRAD Score of 0, 24 (11.4%) BIRADS-1, 50 (23.8%) BIRADS-II, 58 (27.6%) BIRADS-III, 35 (16.6%) BIRADS-IV, 9 (4.2%) BIRADS-V, and 2 (0.9%) patients had BIRADS-VI. According to histopathology, out of 58 BIRADS-III cases 5 (8.6%) were malignant, 24 (68.5%) of the 35 BIRADS-IV cases were malignant, all 9 (100.0%) of the BIRAD-V were malignant and all 2 (100.0%) of the BIRAD-VI cases were found malignant on histopathology. Conclusion: The results prove that the majority of the radiologically reported BIRAD IV, V and VI lesions are malignant as per histopathology. Moreover, keeping in view the health facilities in the rural sections of Pakistan, mammography is a useful tool for early detection of breast cancer.