Micro CT Findings on Microcalcification Using a Paraffin Block of Breast Specimens: A Preliminary Study

We compared micro CT images with mammography images to evaluate microcalcifications in breast specimens in paraffin blocks. We enrolled 30 patients who had a biopsy of a breast mass that included microcalcifications. We did mammography and micro CT for paraffin blocks of that breast specimen. We evaluated numbers (0, absence; 1, less than 5; 2, 5-10; 3, more than 10) and sizes of microcalcifications. We used the Mann-Whitney test to statistically evaluate differences in the number of microcalcifications between the two imaging methods. We also measured the longest size of the microcalcifications using measurement in PACS. The proportions of microcalcifications in specimens in paraffin blocks on mammography and micro CT were 10/30 (30%) and 11/30 (36.6%), respectively. The scores for microcalcifications on micro CT and mammography were 0.8 ± 1.2 and 0.73 ± 1.2, respectively (p = 0.8001). The sizes of microcalcifications ranged from 0.1-0.5 mm (mean, 0.25 ± 0.17 mm) on micro CT. Micro CT may be a new and promising technique to verify the evaluation by mammography of microcalcifications in breast tissue.