Comparative Evaluation of Breast Ultrasonography and Cytohistopathology in Diagnosing Breast Diseases.

INTRODUCTION: Breast diseases include benign and malignant lesions, wherein benign ones are more common than malignant ones. Early differentiation is fundamental in low-resource environments. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to determine the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography compared with cytohistopathology in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Pakistan Health & Research Forum between July 2024 and January 2025. One hundred and twenty-five newly diagnosed cases of breast lesions that had been treated with both ultrasonography and cytohistopathology assessment were included. Parameters of diagnostic accuracy, such as sensitivity and specificity, predictive values, and accuracy, were determined. To test the view of agreement, the chi-square and the McNemar tests were employed. RESULTS: Out of 125 participants (mean age: 43.8 with a standard deviation of 12.4 years), the histopathology of the tumor of 71 participants (56.8%) showed malignant lesions, and 54 participants (43.2%) had benign lesions. The sensitivity was 92.2 percent, specificity 96.7 percent, positive predictive value 96.7 percent, negative predictive value 92.2 percent, and diagnostic accuracy 94.4 percent. The results revealed a statistically significant correlation between malignancy and the increase in age (p < 0.001). There was a significant association in the chi-square test (p < 0.001) and in the McNemar test showing the diagnostic agreement (p = 0.453). CONCLUSION: Ultrasonography is highly reliable in terms of diagnostics and can be used as a first-line procedure when making a distinction between benign and malignant lesions in the breast, especially where histopathology is not readily available. It can also become a part of the clinical practice to improve early diagnoses and management.