To assess the value of the convergence sign on coronal plane images of automated breast volume scanning for the diagnosis of breast lesions.

One hundred and twenty-four pathologically proved breast lesions, including 89 mass cases and 35 non-mass cases, were retrospectively studied. The detection rates of breast cancer in the mass cases and non-mass cases were obtained by the convergence sign on coronal plane images of automated breast volume scanning and compared with those achieved by pathology, and the chi-square test was used to evaluate its value in the diagnosis of breast lesions.

In all, 89 mass cases and 35 non-mass-like cases were reviewed. In 89 mass lesions, 71 were malignant, including 67 invasive ductal carcinomas and 4 in situ ductal carcinomas, and 18 were benign, including 11 cases of adenopathy, 4 cases of intraductal papilloma, 2 cases of atypical hyperplasia, and 1 case of radial scar. In 35 non-mass cases, 6 were malignant, including 2 invasive ductal carcinomas and 4 in situ ductal carcinomas, and 29 were benign, including 25 cases of adenopathy, 3 cases of intraductal papilloma, and 1 case of adenofibroma. The convergence sign was more common in mass lesions, with a rate of 79.77% (71/89), compared with 17.14% in non-mass lesions (χ²=41.87, P<0.05). In all 77 malignant cases, the detection rate of the convergence sign in invasive cancer was 89.61% (69/77), significantly higher than that of in situ ductal carcinoma (10.39%, 8/77). In all benign cases, the main pathological type was adenopathy [61.11% (11/18) in mass lesions and 86% (25/29) in non-mass lesions].

The convergence sign on coronal plane images of automated breast volume scanning is an important feature for the diagnosis of breast cancer, especially for invasive ductal carcinoma, but benign lesions such as mesenchymal hyperplasia or fibrosis are the main cause of false-positives, in which adenopathy is the main pathological type.