Impact of Using Digital Breast Tomosynthesis on the Interpretation of Dense Breasts

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Radiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.

2 Radiology Department, South Egypt Oncology Institute, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.

Abstract

Abstract:
Background
Dense breasts represent a risk factor for breast cancer, but unfortunately, they represent a weak point in conventional digital mammography (DM) interpretation due to tissue overlapping and increased conspicuity of the lesion; hence, the development of digital tomosynthesis (DBT) came to overcome this obstacle, allowing better characterization of lesions, reducing patient recall and medical costs.
Objectives: To assess the impact of DBT on the interpretation of dense breasts and its advantages and disadvantages over DM, hence estimate its role in dense breast screening.
Method: Eighty-three patients with dense breasts (ACR C or D) were included in our study, either having detectable lesions or indeterminate findings by Ultrasound (US) and DM, over 12 months between November 2022 and October 2023.
All patients underwent DM and DBT, which were correlated to histopathology and/ or follow-up. Results:  DBT exhibited a higher sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, PPV, and NPV than DM, with moderate kappa agreement (k=0.4115).
Conclusions: DBT improved the identification and characterization of diverse dense breast abnormalities with much

Keywords

Journal of Current Medical Research and Practice
Volume 10, Issue 4
October 2025
Pages 169-178

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