Non-glandular findings on breast ultrasound. Part II: a pictorial review of chest wall lesions.
Antonio Corvino, Orlando Catalano, Carlo Varelli, Giulio Cocco, Andrea Delli Pizzi, Fabio Corvino, Corrado Caiazzo, Domenico Tafuri, Martina Caruso
Author Information
Antonio Corvino: Movement Sciences and Wellbeing Department, University of Naples "Parthenope", Via Medina 40, 80133, Naples, Italy. an.cor@hotmail.it. ORCID
Orlando Catalano: Radiology Unit, Varelli Diagnostic Institute, Naples, Italy.
Carlo Varelli: Radiology Unit, Varelli Diagnostic Institute, Naples, Italy.
Giulio Cocco: Unit of Ultrasound in Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine and Science of Aging, University "G. D'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy.
Andrea Delli Pizzi: Departiment of Innovative Technologies in Medicine and Dentistry, University "G. D'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy.
The breast ultrasound (US) field-of-view (FOV) includes glandular parenchyma as well as tissues located anterior to and posterior to it, up to pleural line. For that, it is possible to incidentally identify lesions unrelated to breast parenchyma during screening or diagnostic US; sometimes a palpable lump may be the reason of the imaging exam. Furthermore, abnormality related to chest wall are easier and more accurate detected after mastectomy. Hence, radiologists should know the US appearance of lesions which may develop from all tissues present in this region and displayed in the US FOV, without focusing only on glandular abnormalities while performing the exam. This is the second of a two-part series on non-glandular breast lesions; in detail, part two provide an overview of US appearance, differential diagnosis, and pitfalls of chest wall lesions. They may have an infectious, traumatic, inflammatory etiology or be benign or malignant neoplasms. The US role in the assessment of chest wall abnormalities is limited, usually computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance are requested as second-level imaging exams to characterize and to assess better their relationship with surrounding structures because of larger and panoramic view. Finally, US could be useful to guide biopsy.
