MONDAY, Oct. 19, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For women with dense breasts, automated breast ultrasound (ABUS) is associated with fewer abnormal interpretations and fewer short-interval follow-up recommendations than handheld ultrasound (HHUS), with a similar cancer detection rate, according to a study published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
Garth H. Rauscher, Ph.D., from the University of Illinois Chicago, and colleagues compared ultrasound examination performance using observational data from 21,110 HHUS and 4,218 ABUS examinations among women with dense breasts conducted during 2017 to 2020 at 27 radiology facilities.
The researchers found that compared with HHUS, ABUS was associated with a lower abnormal interpretation rate (14.9 versus 19.2 percent), a lower short-interval follow-up recommendation rate (3.0 versus 14.6 percent), and a lower false-positive initial assessment rate (14.6 versus 19.1 percent). For ABUS versus HHUS, no differences were seen in biopsy recommendation or false-positive biopsy recommendation rate, positive predictive value, or cancer detection rate.
"The results of our study provide the strongest evidence to date supporting the use of ABUS as an alternative to HHUS for supplemental screening of women with dense breasts," coauthor Brian L. Sprague, Ph.D., from the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, said in a statement.
