Objective:

To compare the diagnostic value of ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in breast cancer with negative mammography.

Methods:

A total of 305 lesions from 257 mammography-negative patients who underwent ultrasound and MRI examinations were retrospectively analyzed. All cases were confirmed by pathology after surgery. The differences in the detection rate for mammography-negative breast lesions and t

he diagnostic value for mammography-negative breast cancer between ultrasound and MRI were analyzed.

Results:

The detection rate of MRI and ultrasound for all mammographynegative lesions was 97.38% and 90.49%

respectively. MRI had the higher detection rate than ultrasound for intraductal lesions (98.21% vs. 75.00%

P

0.05)

and there was no significant difference between the two methods in the detection rate of mass-like lesions (97.19% vs. 93.98%

P

0.05). The sensitivity

specificity and accuracy of ultrasound and MRI in diagnosing breast cancer were 85.37%

74.62%

76.07% and 90.24%

58.71%

62.95%

respectively. The specificity and accuracy of ultrasound were higher than MRI (

P

0.001). The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of ultrasound and MRI was 0.800 and 0.745

respectively

and there was no significant difference between the two methods (

P

0.05).

Conclusion:

Both ultrasound and MRI have a high detection rate of mammography-negative breast lesions

and MRI is superior to ultrasound in detection of mammographynegative introductal lesions. The diagnostic value of ultrasound in mammography-negative breast cancer is similar to MRI

therefore

ultrasound should be the preferred method for screening.