IJCRR

IJCRR - 7(22), November, 2015

Pages: 13-16

TRIPLE ASSESSMENT OF BREAST LUMPS, AN EFFECTIVE METHOD FOR DIAGNOSIS IN LIMITED RESOURCES SETTING

Author: Aniketan K. V., Manjunath S. Kotennavar, Tejaswini Vallabha

Category: Healthcare

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Abstract:

Context: Breast lumps are one of the common complaints for which a woman consults a surgeon. It is estimated that at least 50% of female population in USA consult surgeon some time in their life span for breast related symptoms, 25% among them will undergo breast biopsy and around 12% of them will develop some variant of breast cancer in their life time. Similar to worldwide trend, there is increase in the incidence of breast cancer in India too. This includes semi urban and rural areas where resources and access to facility for early diagnosis are limited. In such situations triple test for diagnosis plays an important role. It is effective in diagnosis, reliable, avoids multiple visits and helps in decision making regarding management. This study was conducted with an aim of assessing the accuracy of triple test in semi urban set up. Methods: A prospective cross sectional study on 50 women above 15 years of age with palpable breast lumps was conducted.
Triple test of lumps was done followed by definitive surgery based on inference. Inference of triple test was compared with final histopathology report. Results were analysed using Chi square test and p value of <0.05 was considered significant. Sensitivity and specificity of the tests individually and in combination were also calculated. Results: Among 50 patients, 22 were malignancies and 28 benign. Triple test showed sensitivity and specificity of 9429%. Positive predictive value for benign lesions was 95.47% and for malignancies 94.32%. Negative predictive value for benign lesions was 94.32%and for malignancies 94.40%. The chi square value was 3.89 and p value was <0.05. Conclusions: Triple test is a dependable tool in diagnosing and planning the management of the breast lumps in limited resource
settings. It is accurate and reduces waiting time for decision making.

Keywords: Triple assessment, Breast lumps, FNAC, Clinical examination, Mammography, Sonomammography

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