The role of breast tomosynthesis in a predominantly dense breast population at a tertiary breast centre: breast density assessment and diagnostic performance in comparison with MRI

OBJECTIVES: To compare breast density measured on digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) (BI-RADS-based breast composition and fully-automatic estimation) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (BI-RADS amount of fibroglandular tissue), and to evaluate the diagnostic performance in terms of sensitivity and specificity of DBT and MRI in a predominantly dense breast population. METHODS: Between 2015 and 2016, 152 women with 103 breast malignancies, who underwent 3-T breast MRI and DBT within 2 months’ time, were enrolled in this study. Breast composition/fibroglandular tissue and findings on DBT (two readers) and MRI were reported using BI-RADS 5th edition. Digital mammography images were analysed for breast percent density (PD) using the Libra software tool. RESULTS: A majority of women had dense breasts as categorised by breast composition c (heterogeneously dense) (68%) and d (extremely dense) (15%). The mean PD was 44% (range, 18-89%) and the correlation between breast composition and PD was r = 0.6. The diagnostic performance of MRI was significantly higher compared to DBT for one reader as described by the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (p = 0.004) and of borderline significance for the other reader (p = 0.052). CONCLUSIONS: MRI had higher diagnostic performance than DBT in a dense breast population in the tertiary setting. KEY POINTS: • MRI had higher diagnostic performance than DBT in a dense breast population • Diagnostic performance of DBT was comparable to MRI in women with fatty breasts • MRI was superior to DBT in preoperative breast cancer size assessment