Comparison of Breastlight and Mammography in Women Aged Over 40 Based on Diagnostic Accuracy

Abstract

Background & Objective: Breast cancer threatens the lives of many women around the world each year. Although mammography is considered the gold standard for early detection of early-stage breast cancer, different diagnostic methods such as the Breastlight device have been proposed for cancer screening in recent years. This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of Breastlight and mammography in women referred to clinics in Khorramabad, Iran in 2018.Materials & Methods: In this clinical trial, 252 women older than 40 years of age who were eligible for breast cancer screening or had breast complaints were included. The breast tissue was first assessed using a Breastlight device in a dark room. Then, all participants were re-examined by mammography. The results of Breastlight and mammography methods including true positive rate, true negative rate, false positive rate, and false negative rate were compared. The main bases of comparison were sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy of mammography and Breastlight methods. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 22.Results: Compared to mammography, the Breastlight method showed a sensitivity of 78.3%, specificity of 99.5%, PPV of 97%, NPV of 95%, and diagnostic accuracy of 95.6%.Conclusion: Although mammography is more effective than other common methods in diagnosing early-stage breast cancer, Breastlight is a simple and cost-effective device that can be considered a valid tool in breast cancer screening.