Lesson 3A (Part 3) Flashcards
What is the inverted nipple due to?
Cancer
- can be congenital
Micromastia
Abnormal smallness of the breast
Macromastia
Excessive size of the breasts
What is the sonographic anatomy of the breast? (9)
- Skin
- Retromammary fat
- Subcutaneous fat
- Pectoralis muscle
- Breast parenchyma
- Ribs/pleura
- mammary zone - Nipple region
- Copper’s ligaments
- Tail of Spence
How does the skin appear sonographically?
A highly reflective band along the surface of the breast
- near field
What is the normal thickness of the skin of the breast?
2-3mm
Where does the subcutaneous fat lie?
Between the skin and the breast parenchyma
- mammary zone
Is subcutaneous fat homogenous or heterogenous?
Homogenous
What does coopers ligaments arise from?
Breast parenchyma
- extend radially from the deep fascial planes to the skin
What kind of structures are cooper ligaments?
Tent like structures
What is the echogenicity of coopers ligament?
Echogenic
Where does parenchyma lie?
Beneath the subcutaneous fat
What is the echogenicity of parenchyma?
Mixed homogeneity
What are the 4 patterns of echogenicity of parenchyma?
- Fibrous
- Premenstrual
- Postmenstrual
- Pregnant
Where is retromammary fat located?
Posterior to parenchyma
What does the retromammary fat form?
A layer between the deep fascia plane and the pectoralis muscle
Where is the pectoralis muscle situated?
Anterior to ribs
What do you want to see on you US when scanning the pectoralis muslce?
Ribs
- this tells you that you have done a full sweep of the tissue
How do ribs appear sonographically?
Appear as hypoechoic structures containing low-level echoes that attenuate causing an acoustic shadow
Pleura
Linear echogenic line deep to rib
When does the pleura move?
With respiration
What does the nipple consist of?
Both dense connective tissue and connective tissue of
the duct
- can cause posterior acoustic shadowing
Tail of spence
Is the portion of the breast that extends into the axillary region
What is the sonographic appearance of lymph nodes? (3)
- Solid nodule
- Ovoid
- Echogenic fatty hilum
Ducts
Tubular branching structures
What does breast density refer to?
Relative amount of fibroglandular tissue to fatty tissue
What does high breast density mean?
There is a greater amount of breast and connective tissue compared to fat
What does low breast density mean?
There is a greater amount of fat compared to breast and connective tissue
What are the normal breast tissues? (3)
- Premammary zone
- Mammary zone
- Retro-mammary zone
Premammary zone
Skin and overlying breast fat
Mammary zone
Fibroglandular tissue
Retro-mammary zone
Predominantly fat and the muscles of the chest wall
