A Plea for Defining a Uniform Standard Order in Reporting Details of a Whole Breast Ultrasound: The Point of View of Two Breast Surgeons?

Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System(BIRADS) was introduced by the American Collegeof Radiology (ACR) in ۱۹۹۳ and has since undergoneseveral modifications. It offers a common languagebetween radiologists for describing breast lesions, andbetween radiologists and clinicians to communicatetheir findings. The first version of BIRADSconsidered only mammography interpretation andreport, but the subsequent versions have includedultrasound and MRI of the breast as well. BIRADSfor ultrasound is evolving continuously in order toprovide a constant and helpful guide for radiologists.Using BIRADS and the ultrasound lexicon haveimproved interobserver agreement between breastradiologists in interpreting breast ultrasoundfindings. While BIRADS for ultrasound wasintroduced in the fourth version of BIRADS in ۲۰۰۳۲,some items have been added or modified in the fifthversion in ۲۰۱۳. Briefly, these consist of the additionof a subsection entitled “general considerations”which provides general data like image quality oranatomic considerations; deletion of the “lesionboundary” descriptor; defining “posterior features”instead of “posterior acoustic features” and“intraductal calcifications, calcifications in a massand calcifications outside of a mass” in lieu of"macrocalcifications”; inclusion of new descriptorsunder “special cases”; rearrangement of several termsunder “associated features” instead of “surroundingtissue”; re-definition of terms describing vascularity;and adding descriptors related to elastography.

Keywords:

Breast Ultrasound