Breast cancer is a major health problem worldwide. Due to its frequency, it is the most important malignant neoplasm in women. In our country it is the most important cause of mortality in women and there is a continuous increase in the incidence in women under 45 years of age.
In recent years ultrasound has undergone great advances. The equipment has been improved, currently having high frequency probes up to 15 MHz to which Doppler, harmonics, 3D (three-dimensional), sonoelastography, etc. can be coupled.
Ultrasonography initially proved useful as an imaging modality that allowed distinguishing between cysts and solid masses in the breast. Later it was seen that ultrasound was indicated in the evaluation of circumscribed lesions visible by mammography or palpable lesions poorly differentiated by mammography.
It is a non-invasive technique that uses very high frequency sound waves emitted by a hand-held probe called a transducer which, upon colliding with the different parts of the body, are, to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the hardness and composition of the different tissues, bounced back and detected by the transducer, which sends them to a computer system that converts them into images.
In this sense, ultrasound offers two great advantages: the first is that it does not use ionizing radiation, which is harmful to health, and the second is that the images are acquired in real time.
Breast ultrasound has some advantages over mammography. Ultrasound allows visualization of the internal structure of the tissues, healthy or diseased, in multiple planes, so that in those cases in which mammography, due to the density, fails to detect them, these can be seen by ultrasound.
It is used as the first diagnostic technique in the evaluation of women under 30 years of age, study of women during pregnancy and lactation, study of inflammatory pathology, and study of the mastectomy bed.
It is also used in indications as a complementary technique: patients with breast implants symptomatic breast, palpable lesions, assessment of malignant lesions, second look after MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), and follow-up of patients with conservative surgery.