CAN BREAST US BE USED TO EVALUATE FOR MICROCALCIFICATIONS?

No –     Ultrasound is not a reliable modality for the detection/assessment of microcalcifications

The interaction of ultrasound with layers of breast tissue results in tiny bright echoes ("speckle noise"), which mimic faint microcalcifications and make detection of true microcalcifications difficult –     as demonstrated in the images below

(Merritt 1999)

speckle in a FAD

calcifications in a tumor