Supplemental Automated Breast US Screening in Patients With Dense Breasts: 5-Year Experience From an Academic Medical Center.

Objective: To assess features of automated breast US (ABUS) use in women with dense breasts. The number of additional cancers found by ABUS not detected by mammography was also determined.

Methods: This study was approved by the IRB and is HIPAA compliant. Automated breast US use was defined as completing at least 1 ABUS examination during the study. Data from 51 086 women who presented for a mammogram from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2022, were extracted from the electronic health record. Descriptive statistics of ABUS use were performed to assess the significance of difference between age and race categories. Pairwise analysis with Bonferroni correction was performed to assess differences between each race and the White category.

Results: Automated breast US was used for 9865/24 637 (40%) patients with dense breasts. Patients with ABUS use were older than those without. Among women with dense breasts, White patients (4943/10 667 [46%]) were more likely to use ABUS than Black/African American (2604/6843 [38%]), Hispanic/Latino (1466/4278 [34%]), Asian (521/1590 [33%]), and other (331/1249 [26%]) patients (P <.05). Approximately 3025/9865 (31%) of patients using ABUS had their first ABUS within 90 days of their mammogram. By the third annual mammogram, 2684/3160 (85%) of patients who used ABUS had their ABUS and mammogram scheduled on the same day. For every 1000 ABUS exams, 2.4 additional cancers were found and were primarily early-stage tumors.

Conclusion: Among women with dense breasts, 9865/24 637 (40%) used ABUS, and they were more likely to be older and White.