Breast masses with mixed cystic‐solid sonographic appearance

Retrospective analysis was performed for 56 breast masses with mixed cystic and solid sonographic patterns encountered in the last 5 years at Keio University Hospital, with the objective of elucidating their significance. The lesions were classified into two major groups: tumor with cyst (TWC—solid mass with cystic component) and intracystic tumor (ICT—cystic mass with solid component). According to the pathological diagnosis, 57% were benign and 43% were malignant. Fifty eight percent of malignant lesions were shown to have a TWC pattern and 42% an ICT pattern. Among benign lesions, 66% were shown to be TWC and 34% ICT. In malignant tumors, 96% of the cases showed irregular shape and heterogeneous internal content. Even in benign lesions, a high incidence of irregular shape and rough border was found, although the predominant internal echo texture was homogeneous, and threedimensional (3‐D) contour was not clear. In conclusion, we observed that in the TWC group, the lack of a defined 3‐D contour is the most important criterion, and tumors with multiples cysts tend to be benign. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.