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Multicenter Study
. 2024 Sep;129(9):1303-1312.
doi: 10.1007/s11547-024-01860-5. Epub 2024 Jul 26.

Background parenchymal enhancement on contrast-enhanced mammography: associations with breast density and patient's characteristics

Veronica Magni  1   2 , Andrea Cozzi  3   4 , Giulia Muscogiuri  5 , Adrienn Benedek  3 , Gabriele Rossini  5 , Marianna Fanizza  6 , Giuseppe Di Giulio  6 , Francesco Sardanelli  7   3   8
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Background parenchymal enhancement on contrast-enhanced mammography: associations with breast density and patient's characteristics

Veronica Magni et al. Radiol Med. 2024 Sep.

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate if background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) on contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM), graded according to the 2022 CEM-dedicated Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) lexicon, is associated with breast density, menopausal status, and age.

Methods: This bicentric retrospective analysis included CEM examinations performed for the work-up of suspicious mammographic findings. Three readers independently and blindly evaluated BPE on recombined CEM images and breast density on low-energy CEM images. Inter-reader reliability was estimated using Fleiss κ. Multivariable binary logistic regression was performed, dichotomising breast density and BPE as low (a/b BI-RADS categories, minimal/mild BPE) and high (c/d BI-RADS categories, moderate/marked BPE).

Results: A total of 200 women (median age 56.8 years, interquartile range 50.5-65.6, 140/200 in menopause) were included. Breast density was classified as a in 27/200 patients (13.5%), as b in 110/200 (55.0%), as c in 52/200 (26.0%), and as d in 11/200 (5.5%), with moderate inter-reader reliability (κ = 0.536; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.482-0.590). BPE was minimal in 95/200 patients (47.5%), mild in 64/200 (32.0%), moderate in 25/200 (12.5%), marked in 16/200 (8.0%), with substantial inter-reader reliability (κ = 0.634; 95% CI 0.581-0.686). At multivariable logistic regression, premenopausal status and breast density were significant positive predictors of high BPE, with adjusted odds ratios of 6.120 (95% CI 1.847-20.281, p = 0.003) and 2.416 (95% CI 1.095-5.332, p = 0.029) respectively.

Conclusion: BPE on CEM is associated with well-established breast cancer risk factors, being higher in women with higher breast density and premenopausal status.

Keywords: Breast density; Breast neoplasms; Mammography; Menopause.

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References

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