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Objectives: To evaluate the incidence of breast lesions with a histopathological diagnosis of focal fibrosis based on imaging guided core biopsy, to review the radiologic findings and to assess the diagnostic reliability of 14 G core needle biopsy., Materials and Methods: 723 patients, who had undergone 14 G core biopsy and/or surgical excisions, were retrospectively analyzed. Overall, 43 lesions were diagnosed as focal fibrosis. Physical examination, mammography, ultrasonography, and follow-up findings were all reviewed., Results: Radiological evaluation revealed that 35 (81%) lesions were solid masses. Of 35 mass lesions, 24 (69%) were well circumscribed, the remaining 11 (31%) lesions were ill defined on mammograms or sonograms. None of the lesions had pathological microcalcifications. Three lesions were surgically excised because of radio-pathological discordance after core needle biopsy., Conclusions: Focal fibrosis of the breast is a benign condition and reflects the ductal and lobular atrophy secondary to stromal proliferation. The radiological findings of this entity may vary and sometimes mimic those of malignant lesions. The incidence of focal fibrosis among our study population is 6% and a well-defined mass lesion is the most frequent finding. Core needle biopsy is a safe and reliable diagnostic procedure in the management of these cases., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of breast arterial calcifications (BAC) detected on mammography and search for conditions that may influence their existence., Materials and Methods: The mammograms of 6156 consecutive patients were reevaluated for the presence of BAC. Four hundred eighty-five women having BAC were enrolled in the patient group. Additionally, randomly selected 500 women, without BAC constituted the control group. Hospital records of the participants were reviewed for parity, menopausal status, oral contraceptive agent (OCA) usage, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) usage, presence of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, albuminuria and history of myocardial infarction (MI)., Results: Prevalence of BAC was 7.9% on mammograms. Ninety-four women were aged between 40 and 49 years, 165 were aged between 50 and 59 years and 226 were over 60 years among BAC positive 485 women. A significant relationship was found for the frequency of BAC versus age and HRT usage in all age groups (p<0.05). Similarly, significant relationships were also found for the frequency of BAC versus OCA usage, HRT usage, hyperlipidemia and diabetes in age group of 40-49 and in age group of 50-59, and for the frequency of BAC versus albuminuria in age group of 40-49, BAC versus history of myocardial infarction in age group of 59-59 and over 60 years (p<0.05). The correlations were not significant for the relationships of BAC with OCA usage, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and albuminuria in women over 60 years (p>0.05)., Conclusion: Most benign findings like BAC are not routinely reported during mammographic evaluation. Our study showed that, presence of BAC on mammography was strongly related to advancing age. However, these findings may signify a systemic risk and can be used as precautious indicators for undocumented systemic diseases, especially in premenopausal women.

Objective: Localized low attenuated areas (pseudolesions) in the medial segment of left liver lobe are not rarely seen in the screening of abdomen using helical CT. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of pseudolesions in the routine helical CT of abdomen and to evaluate the morphologic and enhancement features of pseudolesions in the unenhanced and enhanced CT examinations., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 333 contrast enhanced abdominal CT examination of 328 patients with no known liver disease, to detect the presence of pseudolesion of liver. In the presence of unenhanced and arterial phase examinations, these images were also analyzed. The imaging criteria for pseudolesion of liver was localized low attenuated area with geometric, ovoid or nodular shaped and with no mass effect adjacent to the falciform ligament, gallbladder, or porta hepatis. Previous CT, CTAP and MR examinations were also reviewed to understand the evolution of pseudolesion in patients in whom a pseudolesion was detected in the portal phase of helical CT examination., Results: We identified a pseudolesion in the 65 (19.8%) of 328 patients in portal phase of helical CT examinations. Pseudolesions were identified in the medial segment of left liver lobe adjacent to falciform ligament in the 92.8% of patients, both sides of falciform ligament in the 1.5% of patients, adjacent to porta hepatis in the 3% of patients and adjacent to gallbladder 3% of patients. These lesions had triangular shape in the 66.1% of patients, ovoid shape in the 18.6% of patients, and nodular shape in the 15.3% of patients. Unenhanced, arterial and portal phase images were exist in the 50.7% of 65 patients. The pseudolesions were not identified on the unenhanced images in the 75.7% of patients and on the arterial phase images in the 55.6% of patients., Conclusion: Pseudolesions around the falciform ligament are not rarely seen in the routine helical CT examination of liver and abdomen. The pseudolesions are more encountered in the portal phase of helical CT examination. These lesions seem to be likely focal fatty infiltration or perfusion defect due to venous supply variation or both. Nodular shaped pseudolesions may be interpreted as true tumors and further study may require for differential diagnosis.