Echogenic Rind — More Specific Than Sensitive Indicator of Breast Malignancy

Background: The BI-RADS 6 th edition ultrasound lexicon is soon to be released and will likely include an echogenic rind (thick hyperechoic band bordering or surrounding a mass and disrupting surrounding tissue texture) as a new associated feature to aid mass characterization. Objective: To evaluate how an echogenic rind surrounding a suspicious breast mass impacts diagnostic performance and correlates with specific tumor histology. Design: Retrospective study. Methods: The authors included patients who underwent diagnostic breast ultrasound showing a suspicious mass (BI-RADS category 4 or 5) and ultrasound-guided biopsy during the 1-year study period. Two radiologists independently reviewed ultrasound examinations for echogenic rinds (requiring ≥25% circumferential extent) associated with masses; readers also measured mass sizes without and with inclusion of echogenic rinds. Diagnostic performance was evaluated using pathology as the reference. Results: 511 patients (583 suspicious more...