Ultrasound Plus Mammography Finds More Cancers, But Increases False Positives

Adding ultrasound to mammography finds more cancers than mammography alone, but also substantially increases the number of false positives, according to first-year results from a three year study of the two tests.

"At this point, it's not clear whether the benefit provided by ultrasound outweighs the additional expense, stress and inconvenience caused by the false positives," said study co-author Etta Pisano, M.D., vice dean for academic affairs in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Kenan professor of radiology and biomedical engineering and director of the UNC Biomedical Research Imaging Center.

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