Diagnostic mammography is routinely ordered, along with targeted breast ultrasound, to evaluate breast symptoms in women 30-39 years of age. However, in this age group, mammography is often limited by breast density and the probability of detecting an occult malignancy is low. We sought to evaluate whether diagnostic mammography detected any new incidental malignancies in women aged 30-39 years presenting with focal breast symptoms. This retrospective study included women 30-39 years of age who had a diagnostic mammogram performed for focal breast symptoms at a single institution from 2002 to 2017. Descriptive analyses were performed to determine the rate of incidental mammographic findings outside of the region of the presenting symptom that 1) led to additional imaging and/or biopsies and 2) were found to be malignant. During the 16-year study period, 1770 evaluations were performed, of which 249 (14.1%) were found to have an additional incidental mammographic abnormality. Further diagnostic imaging was required in 211 (11.3%), core biopsy in 67 (3.8%), and excisional biopsy in 8 (0.5%). None of the mammographically detected incidental findings resulted in a new diagnosis of breast cancer. In the evaluation of focal benign breast symptoms in women 30-39 years of age, diagnostic mammography did not detect any new incidental malignancies outside of the area of interest, but instead led to additional unavailing imaging and biopsy procedures. The mammography component of the diagnostic evaluation of younger average-risk women may potentially be omitted if the presenting symptom is determined to be benign with ultrasound alone.
Keywords: breast symptom; cancer detection; diagnostic breast imaging; diagnostic mammogram; young women.
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