Rationale and Objectives
The purpose of this paper is to characterize true and false positive findings on contrast-enhanced
mammography (CEM) and correlate enhancement pattern and method of detection with pathology
outcomes.
Materials and Methods
This was an IRB-approved retrospective review of diagnostic CEM performed from December
2015 through December 2019 for which biopsy was recommended. Background parenchymal
enhancement, tissue density, finding features, pathologic/clinical outcomes, and method
of detection were captured. CEM includes low-energy images (LE), similar to standard
2D mammography, and recombined images (RI) that show enhancement. ‘MG-detected’ findings
were identified on mammography or LE. ‘RI-detected’ findings were identified due to
enhancement on RI. The positive predictive value (PPV2) was calculated on a per-case
and a per-finding level. Comparisons were performed using Pearson chi-square and Fisher
exact tests.
Results
One hundred sixty CEM cases with 220 findings were evaluated with a case PPV2 of 58.1%.
32.3% (71/220) of lesions were RI-detected. The PPV2 of RI-detected enhancement was
40.8% with subanalysis revealing PPV2 of 22.2%, 32%, and 51.4% for foci, NME, and
masses, respectively. The PPV2 of MG-detected enhancement was 73.5% with subanalysis
revealing PPV2 of 50%, 54.1%, and 83.8% for foci, NME, and masses, respectively. There
were 100 false positives findings, 42 of which were RI-detected.
Conclusion
PPV2 of diagnostic CEM is within the range of other diagnostic breast imaging exams.
However false positives remain a challenge, especially for RI-detected findings. Additional
efforts to improve specificity of RI-detected findings are worthwhile.
Key Words
Abbreviations:
CEM (Contrast-enhanced mammography), IV (intravenous), CC (craniocaudal), MLO (mediolateral oblique), LE (low-energy), HE (high-energy), RI (recombined images), BPE (background parenchymal enhancement), MG (mammography), PPV2 (positive predictive value)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 18, 2022
Accepted:
January 7,
2022
Received in revised form:
January 4,
2022
Received:
October 14,
2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 The Association of University Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
