Do screen-detected lobular and ductal carcinoma present with different mammographic features?

The aim of this study is to investigate any difference in the shape and location of infiltrating lobular carcinoma (ILC) with respect to the parenchymal density between the cranio-caudal (CC) and medio-lateral oblique (MLO) mammographic views. Six film-readers independently re-read 59 ILC mammograms and a matched sample of 59 infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) mammograms from one 3-year screening round to quantify lesion characteristics. There is fair to moderate reader agreement for parenchymal pattern, lesion shape and location (kappa = 0.41-0.60). Both ILC (33/60, 55%) and IDC (22/65, 37%) appear as a spiculate mass more often on the CC view than on the MLO view. 41% (25/60) of the ILC spiculate masses become architectural distortions or asymmetric densities on the MLO view. No more ILC lesions (4/60, 7%) are seen in dense breasts than IDC (5/65, 8%), but ILC is mainly associated with (58/60, 97%), and rarely isolated from (2/60, 3%), the main glandular density. The appearance of ILC is significantly different between the MLO and CC views (paired Wilcoxon test: z = -17.059; significance level <or=0.0005). IDC appearance is not significantly different between these two views (z = -1.244; significance level 0.213). In conclusion, the CC view is optimum for distinctly visualizing ILC as a spiculate mass, as it appears as a more subtle distortion or asymmetry on the MLO view. ILC is not often isolated from the main glandular density and so optimizing visualization of this area of the breast is key to perception.