Clinical breast examination and its relevance to diagnosis of palpable breast lesion

Ratanachaikanont, T.

Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand 88(4): 505-507

2005


ISSN/ISBN: 0125-2208
PMID: 16146255
Document Number: 2166
To evaluate if clinical breast examination (CBE) is a reliable tool for diagnosis of palpable breast lesions, from July 2002 to October 2003, 3 71 patients (445 palpable breast lesions) were examined by single experienced clinician and compared with fine needle aspiration (FNA) results. CBE had sensitivity of 57.14%, specificity 97.11%, positive predictive value (PPV) 76.60%, negative predictive value (NPV) 93.20%, false negative (FN) 0.06%, false positive (FP) 0.02%, and overall accuracy 91.44%. There was concordance in 91.44%. Of a total of 397 benign clinical suspections, 199 episodes were found to be cysts (50.13%). CBE alone even in an experienced clinician is not a reliable tool for diagnosis of palpable breast lesion whether it is malignant or not, but it can be used as a primary and simple tool for benign suspicious palpable breast lesion, particularly cystic breast lesion.

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Clinical breast examination and its relevance to diagnosis of palpable breast lesion