Lobar Ultrasound of the Breast

Abstract

The radiological diagnosis of breast carcinoma is based on three different techniques today: mammography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and breast ultrasound (echography). A major disadvantage of mammography is the lack of precise anatomical references. In fact, the radiologist using this technique makes a global analysis of the connective and fatty tissues containing the fibro-glandular block but the lobes of the breast are not outlined on the normal mammogram. MR mammography is based on contrast enhancement dependent on angiogenesis and as such gives no opportunity to relate the lesions to lobar anatomy of the breast. Conventional breast echography with orthogonal vertical and horizontal scanning is only a transcript of the mammographic findings from the radiologist’s point of view. It does not allow viewing anatomical structures, and only a limited part of the breast volume can be studied. Description of lobes, lobules, and ducts, or the localization of specific terminal ductal-lobular unit (TDLUs) groups never appears in an echography report.