Ultrasound can replace mammogram in some breast cancer examinations: Dutch researchers

Ultrasounds can replace a painful mammogram in some breast cancer examinations, according to an extensive study by researchers from three Dutch hospitals. They found that ultrasound can almost certainly rule out breast cancer for 80 percent of patients with local complaints, like a lump in the breast, NOS reports.

For the other 20 percent of the 2,000 participating patients, ultrasound was inconclusive. They underwent follow-up testing, and half of them were eventually diagnosed with breast cancer.

Radboudumc in Nijmegen, the Noordwest Hospital in Alkmaar, and the St. Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein participated in the study to test the reliability of diagnostics methods other than the mammogram - an X-ray in which the breasts are compressed between two plates.

According to Radboudumc radiologist Linda Appelman, who was responsible for the study, about 70,000 women go to the hospital yearly with a lump or swelling in their breasts. The ultrasound will work well for examining these patients.

The study showed that ultrasound could rule out cancer with 99.8 percent certainty. Although Appeldam stressed that it could not replace mammograms for the national breast cancer screening, to which women between 50 and 75 are invited every two years.

The nationwide screening involves examining thousands of women who don’t have complaints, so the doctor has to examine the entire breast. Ultrasounds can only check a small area of the breast at a time, while the mammogram can screen the whole breast.