Comparison of mammography and transillumination light scanning in the detection of breast lesions

Abstract

A prospective study was done involving 822 women who had both film screen mammography and a breast transillumination light scan examination. The study population was not randomized; a modified phase-2 study was done. Mammography was superior for detecting malignancy: of the 67 pathologically proved breast cancers, 64 (95.5%) were detected by mammography and 45 (67.2%) were detected by transillumination. Biopsy revealed that 74 patients had benign lesions. In this group of patients, the false-positive rate was 12.2% for light scanning and 79.7% for mammography; however, 117 other patients had false-positive light scans.