Breast calcifications. Literature review

Abstract

Breast cancer continues to maintain a leading position in the structure of the incidence of all oncological diseases among women. Early diagnosis of the disease at the stage of assessing indirect signs makes it possible in the future to maintain a good quality of life for patients by forming proper dynamic monitoring and performing functionally sparing surgical treatment. Interest in the early detection of benign and malignant pathology of the mammary gland is growing every year. A multidisciplinary approach to the study of the formation of breast calcifications makes it possible to look at the problem in a multifaceted way, and ways to solve problems in the process of diagnosis underlie the biochemical understanding of the mechanisms of formation, which is no less important when evaluating mammographic images. Practically up to 50 % of non-palpable breast tumors in practice are detected by signs of existing calcifications in the gland tissue. At present, the problem of early detection of malignant tumors of the breast by radiographic signs of these calcifications, their shape and nature of location in the gland tissue and their further pathomorphological confirmation is being actively studied.We have analyzed the literature data of foreign and domestic authors over the past 20 years. The problem was considered from the mechanism of formation and morphological features of calcifications in the breast tissue to their radiographic assessment on mammographic images. According to the results of the studied literature, the biochemical features of the formations were taken as the basis for understanding the nature of calcifications in the breast tissue. On a biochemical level, calcifications are usually classified into two main types: type I, consisting of calcium oxalate, and type II, consisting of hydroxyapatite. The classification is based on chemical composition and mammographic characteristics, including morphology, distribution and density. Speaking about calcium oxalate, the benign nature of education is most often implied, which cannot be said about hydroxyapatite. Mammography is the main method for diagnosing these formations, taking into account the characteristics of the characteristic radiological signs, which are also detailed in this article.Understanding the molecular and structural development of calcifications may aid in the detection and treatment of breast lesions. Identification of these structures in a patient diagnosed with breast cancer refers to the early diagnosis of the disease, where, with timely prescribed therapy, we get high chances of good long-term results of relapse-free survival.

Keywords

• breast cancer
• calcifications
• microcalcifications
• hydroxyapatites
• calcium oxalates