Full Title: Accuracy of Clinical Breast Examination's Abnormalities
Full Title: Accuracy of Clinical Breast Examination's Abnormalities
Full Title: Accuracy of Clinical Breast Examination's Abnormalities
com/science/article/pii/S0301211519301587
Manuscript_a51474c38e04a8652eafdb7d2e3c3283
Full title
Accuracy of clinical breast examination’s abnormalities for breast cancer screening: cross-
sectional study
Authors
France
Corresponding author
Dr Alexandre MALMARTEL
e-mail : [email protected]
phone: +33 6 81 81 17 20
fax: +33 1 44 41 23 64
Funding :
Competing of interest:
1
© 2019 published by Elsevier. This manuscript is made available under the Elsevier user license
https://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/
Accuracy of clinical breast examination’s abnormalities for breast cancer screening:
cross-sectional study
Abstract:
Objectives: The guidelines for breast cancer screening with clinical breast examination
(CBE) are diverging: CBE is recommended in France, whereas it is not recommended in the
United States and Canada, given the lack of clear benefit and the risk of overmedication. To
assess the accuracy of abnormalities found during CBE for in breast cancer screening.
Study design: A cross-sectional study included women over 18 years with no history of
questionnaire collected the risk of breast cancer on mammography according to the Breast
Imaging-Reporting And Data System (Bi-RADS) (high risk: Bi-RADS 4 or 5 versus lower
risk: other Bi-RADS categories), the risk factors for breast cancer and the breast clinical
abnormalities (none, mass, skin abnormality, oedema, pain, nipple discharge, lymph nodes...)
For each abnormality, sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive
Result: Among the 3218 included patients (mean age: 55.1 +/-10 years), 713 (22.2%) had an
abnormal CBE and 133 (4.1%) had high-risk mammography. The sensitivity of CBE was
36%[28%;45%] and the specificity was 78%[77%;80%]. The PPV and NPV for each clinical
abnormality were low, except for nipple discharge, retraction and lymph nodes, for which the
abnormalities were rare (0.5%, 0.2% and 0.5% respectively). These values were similar across
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Conclusion: The accuracy of CBE for breast cancer screening appeared to be low which did
Key points:
• The sensitivity of clinical breast examination was 36% and its specificity was 78%
• Clinical abnormalities did not have sufficient accuracy to suspect breast cancer
• Nipple discharge had a high predictive positive value but was rarely present.
Keywords : breast cancer, clinical breast examination, screening, sensitivity and specificity
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Introduction
Breast cancer was the most common cancer among women and the leading cause of cancer
mortality among women in France in 2012 [1]. The management of risk factors and the
implementation of prevention and screening actions are essential to prevent the progression of
this pathology and reduce breath cancer mortality [2,3]. Thus, the French Health Authority
(Haute Autorité de Santé, HAS) recommended an annual clinical breast examination (CBE)
combined with mammography follow-up according to breast cancer risk factors as part of
individual screening. For the individual screening, patients were referred by a physician,
CBE or because of an estimated higher risk of breast cancer regardless the result of the CBE.
In addition, from the age of 50, patients were invited every 2 years to undergo a
mammography prescription from the French healthcare system. With this national program,
7,5% cancer were diagnosed in 1000 screened women in 2011-2012 [4] These
recommendations for screening and follow-up with annual CBE have been in place for many
years now based on the fact that breast cancer may be asymptomatic or manifested by the
presence of one or more clinical abnormalities [5]. Thus, French women 50 and 74 years can
undergo mammography with the organized screening or with the individual screening instead,
fact, some studies found that there was no clear benefit of regular CBE and that it could lead
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Thus, the clinical relevance of systematic CBE is little studied and its efficacy has not been
demonstrated. We hypothesis that CBE might not be reliable enough to be recommended for
breast cancer screening in France. The objective of our study was to assess the diagnostic
accuracy of the clinical abnormalities found during CBE, performed by a physician, as part of
A multicenter, cross-sectional study included consecutively women over 18 years who came
to perform mammography in 3 radiology practices in Paris between July 2017 and January
2018. The mammography could be indicated because the patients were involved in the
because of a higher individual risk of breast cancer) or because of an abnormal CBE. Patients
were informed of the study using an information sheet and consent was obtained prior to
mammography. Patients with a personal history of breast cancer were excluded from our
study. If necessary, the radiologists could, according to their current practice, complete the
A medical questionnaire completed by the radiologist collected the age of the patient, the
screening method (individual or organized screening), the abnormalities found with the CBE
just before the mammography (none, breast mass, skin retraction, oedema, erythema, orange
peel, ulceration, pain, nipple discharge, lymph nodes, other), personal and family history of
breast cancer, number of pregnancies, and the risk of breast cancer assessed according to
American College of Radiology criteria (Bi-RADS) after the mammography [10,11]. In this
study, 15 radiologists included patients and conducted clinical examination just before the
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The primary outcome was the Bi-RADS score for each mammography. This risk of breast
cancer was reclassified as high risk of malignancy for Bi-RADS 4 and 5, and lower risk for
As the prevalence of abnormal mammography was 12%[12] and the CBE sensitivity was
Univariate analyses between breast cancer risk and explanatory variables were performed
with Chi-2 tests or Fisher’s test for categorical variables, and Student tests for continuous
variables.
The sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive
value (NPV), as well as the positive (LR+) and negative (LR-) likelihood ratios for each of
the clinical abnormalities as a function of malignancy risk were calculated for all patients and
according to patient age. We considered that LR+ and LR- significantly contribute to the
diagnosis when they were over 5 and below 0.1, respectively. Statistical analyses were
Patients could refuse to participate or withdraw their consent at any time. The study protocol
was approved by the Institutional Review Board of CPP SUD EST 1 (IRB No 2018-24 Paris
Descartes RIPH 3). The study did not receive any funding.
Result
During the inclusion period, 3218 women were included (Figure 1). Their median age was 55
years (Interval Interquartile (IQR)= [48-63]), 957 patients (29.7%) were under 50 years of
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age, 2190 (68.1%) were between 50 and 74 years, and 71 (2.2%) were over 74 years of age
(Table 1).
In our patients, 713 (22.2%) had an abnormal clinical examination. The main abnormalities
found in women with abnormal CBE were breast masses in 469 patients (14.6%), breast pain
in 126 patients (3.9%), nipple discharge in 16 women (0.5%), axillary nodes in 17 patients
According to table 1, 133 women (4.1%) had a high-risk mammography for breast
malignancy. Among these women with high-risk mammography, 48 (36.1%) had abnormal
CBE, compared to 665 (21.6%) among those with low to moderate risk mammography (p
<0.01). Associated factors with a high-risk mammography in multivariate analysis were the
Patients performing mammography with the individual screening had more abnormal CBE
compared to patients in organized screening (24.3% versus 10.7 % ; p< 0.01) but they did not
In the overall population, CBE sensitivity was 36% (95%CI=[28%; 45%]) and its specificity
was 78% (95%CI=[77%; 80%]). LR+ and LR- were low 1.7 (95%CI= [1.3; 2.1]) and 0.8
(95%CI=[0.7; 0.9]), respectively. Concerning the presence of breast mass, the results were
similar: the sensitivity was 26% (95%CI=[18%; 34%]), the specificity 86% (95%CI= [85%;
87%]). Sensitivity and specificity for nipple discharge were 4% (95%CI=[1%; 9%]) and
100%(95%CI=[100%; 100%]), and for axillary nodes 2% (95%CI=[0%; 6%]) and 100%
(95%CI=[99%; 100%]), respectively. Their LR+ were 10.5 (95%CI=[3.7; 29.9]) , 6.6
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(95%CI=[1.4; 31.6]) and 4.97 (95%CI=[1.5; 17.1)], respectively but these clinical
Among women under 50 years, CBE sensitivities were low, ranging from 2 to 38%, while
specificities were good, between 73% and 99%. However, likelihood ratios were, between 0.4
and 8.1 for LR+ and between 0.9 and 1.0 for LR- (Table 3).
In patients aged from 50 to 74 years, the overall results were similar. Sensitivities ranged from
1% to 36%, and specificities were between 80% and 100%. LR+ were high for nipple
discharge and retraction (LR+ =17.4 ; 95%CI=[2.9; 102.5] for both) (Table 4).
For patients the 71 patients aged over 74 years, the results were similar for any CBE
abnormalities combined: the sensitivity was 29% [4%; 19%], the specificity 88% [77%;
94%], the PPV 20% [3%; 56%] and the NPV 92% [82%; 97%], the LR+ 2.3 (95%CI=[0.6;
8.7]) and the LR- 0.8 (95%CI= 0.5; 1.3]). The small numbers of patients over 75 years did
Discussion
Summary
In this study, 22% of all patients had an abnormal clinical examination and 11% among
patients involved in the organized screening. CBE abnormalities had a good specificity
(between 78% and 100%) and a poor sensitivity (36% to 0%) in the included population to
detect high risk mammography, which was an original and relevant outcome for clinicians.
Indeed, for any anomaly combined, the sensitivity of the CBE was 36% and the specificity
78%. For women from 50 to 74 years, and those under 50 years, the sensitivity and the
specificity of the CBE were similar to that found for the overall population.
A breast mass found during the CBE did not present good accuracy. Whatever the age of the
women, its sensitivity was about 26%, its specificity 86% and the likelihood ratios were low
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(LR+ = 1.8 and LR- = 0.8). In the overall study population, the LR+ and LR- of the CBE and
of each abnormality contributed little to the diagnosis, with the exception of nipple discharge,
retraction and axillary nodes, for which the LR+ were greater than 5. However, the frequency
of these 3 abnormalities seemed too low for breast cancer screening to rely on their presence.
Our study was one of the rare recent studies evaluating the accuracy of the CBE by a
healthcare professional, and the only one conducted in French population although some
powerful studies already found low performance of CBE in other settings. One of the main
strengths of our study was the consecutive recruitment of patients limiting selection bias. CBE
deliberately limited the number of inclusion centers in order to obtain more reproducible
results. Thus, the CBE was performed by experts in senology from radiology practices, but it
However, our study has some weaknesses. First, we used the high-risk of malignancy
than cancer diagnosis, because it was impossible to follow the patients to know the results of
any biopsies performed if they were indicated. Thus we could have overestimated high-risk
patients compared to the actual number of patients with breast cancer, increase the sensitivity
of CBE and lower its specificity. However, our criterion of judgment is clinically relevant
because the results of the mammography lead to a modification of the management by the
biopsy. Second, mammography may not be the reference for young women because of the
high breast density at these ages. Thus, according to their current practices, radiologists could
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complete the mammography with a breast ultrasound before assessing the risk of malignancy.
Third, the radiology practices in our study were specialized senology centers. There may
therefore have been a selection bias within our study, with a female population that might be
more symptomatic than the general population. Similarly, the prevalence of high-risk
mammography was probably different from that general population. Given that many patients
were participating in individualized screening, the number of symptomatic patients with high-
risk mammography may also be partly due to missed screening opportunities with organized
screening in previous years. Thus, PPV and NPV values may be difficult to generalize.
However, the inclusion of patients in several centers may have reduced this bias. Fourth, the
low number of patients with skin abnormalities, erythema, ulceration, oedema, nipple
discharge, or skin retraction did not allow calculating every parameter in all age’s categories.
between women who were referred following the discovery of a clinical abnormality by a
professional and those referred for routine mammography as part of an individual screening,
but this data was not necessary to assess the diagnostic accuracy of CBE.
Despite only few studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of CBE alone, our
results are in line with the North-American guidelines and with the other studies. A British
study carried out in 1992, found a CBE sensitivity of 64% [13]. In the same year, a Canadian
study found a sensitivity of 69% in women aged 40-49 and 63% in women aged 50-59
[14].These higher sensitivities compared to the results of our study can be explained by the
time at which they were conducted. Radiological tools were less effective than today [16,17],
more cancers might be diagnosed following clinical examination, thus increasing the
sensitivity of the CBE. A study conducted in 2002 estimated a sensitivity of 35% [18] which
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is consistent with our study and reinforces its validity. In primary care setting, our results are
consistent other studies finding that breast cancer was associated with breast lump and nipple
discharge[19,20]. Nevertheless, we did not find any increase of PPV of breast mass between
younger patients and patients over 70 years, probably because breast cancer effecting elderly
women in 2000-2009 were not discovered with breast screening programs at a younger age.
Until then, CBE was also offered to women aged 50 to 74 at the annual screening visit, to
minimize the risk of not detecting radio-occult cancers and because it could help to diagnose
more aggressive breast cancer than mammography alone [21]. But when the mammography’s
result was initially considered normal, an abnormality was detected at CBE in only 0.2% of
cases in 2010 [22]. However, CBE could remain relevant and should be performed in low and
middle income countries (LMICs) where the access to mammography may be more difficult.
In these countries, CBE can reduce delay to diagnose breast cancer and it is associated with
earlier stage cancer [23]. The average size of breast tumours at the time of their discovery in
France was 1.9 cm, whereas it was 5 cm in Tunisia for example [24]. Nevertheless,
deaths compared to annual CBE alone [25]. In the same way, self breast examination was not
recommended by North-American guidelines because it did not reduce breast cancer mortality
in clinical trials [6,7,26], but it could help to detect breast cancers at early stages in LMICs
[27].
In the current state of knowledge, it is not possible to distinguish cancers that will evolve from
those that will not or only slightly evolve: all the lesions detected are therefore treated,
implying over-diagnosis and over-treatment. Various studies and meta-analyses estimate that
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30% to 50% of diagnosed breast cancers are over-diagnosed [8,28]. In the United Kingdom,
the concept of "breast awareness", teaching patients “red flags” that the physicians can also
check, seems to have relevant results in terms of breast cancer screening [29]. Thus, it seems
essential to develop primary prevention measures for this cancer. In fact, the breast cancer
prevention strategy implemented in 2017 by the French National Institute for Cancer (INCa)
suggested two information and prevention medical consultations at 25 and 50 years [30].
They aimed at raising awareness of the risk factors for breast cancer, and means of prevention
such as food hygiene and regular physical activity [2,31]. These measures could help to
prevent 20,000 breast and colon cancers each year [32]. In patients between 50 and 74 years,
health educational programmes could also increase women’s breast cancer awareness and
Conclusion
CBE does not seem to provide reliable and reproducible additional information compared to
mammography. Our results were consistent with the other studies and were not in favour of
its application in France for the regular gynaecological follow-up of women between 50 and
74 years. CBE could have a better place in the follow-up of breast lesions but not for
development individualized screening on each patients risk with screening tools [35] or
genomics [36] could reduce the incidence of this cancer and optimize screening by limiting
over-diagnosis.
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Acknowledgement:
The authors wish to thank: Dr Benillouche, Dr Mourey and Dr Dechoux for their involvement
Conflict of interest:
Funding:
13
References :
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Figure 1. Flow chart describing the patients and their clinical abnormalities
Bi-RADS 4/5:
85 (3.4%)
Bi-RADS 4/5: Bi-RADS 4/5: Bi-RADS 4/5: Bi-RADS 4/5: Bi-RADS 4/5: Bi-RADS 4/5:
34 (7.2%) 6 (4.8%) 5 (31.2%) 3 (17.6%) 2 (22.2%) 5 (3.0%)
1
Table 1. Characteristics of patients depending on the mammography result
1
Table 2. Accuracy of clinical breast examination for the overall population
2
Table 3. Accuracy of clinical breast examination for patients under 50 years
3
Table 4. Accuracy of clinical breast examination for patients between 50 and 74 years.
25% 87%
7% 97%
Breast mass 290 (13 %) [16%; 36%] [86%; 89%]
[4%; 10%] [96%; 98%]
6% 97% 7% 96%
Pain 73 (3%)
[2%; 14%] [96%; 97%] [2%; 15%] [96%; 97%]
Clinical abnormalities could be: mass, retraction, oedema, erythema, orange skin, ulceration, pain, nipple
discharge, axillary node, other
(Se: sensitivity, Sp: specificity, PPV: positive predictive value, NPV: negative predictive value, CI: confidence
interval)