From Recall to Reassurance: Common Benign Mimics in Breast Screening Assessment—A Pictorial Review

ABSTRACT Benign breast lesions, anatomical variants, and imaging artefacts can closely mimic malignancy on screening mammography and are a frequent diagnostic challenge in the assessment setting. This pictorial review showcases a spectrum of benign lesions encountered in a high‐volume breast screening assessment setting that initially raised suspicion for malignancy but were subsequently confirmed as benign through a combination of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), targeted ultrasound, and clinicopathological correlation. Examples include cutaneous lesions, sebaceous cysts, intramammary lymph nodes, hamartomas, fat necrosis, vascular lesions, simple cysts and summation artefact. Through illustrative cases, we highlight key imaging features that support accurate lesion characterization and demonstrate the complementary roles of mammography, DBT, and ultrasound in distinguishing benign entities from breast cancer. Familiarity with these imaging appearances can improve diagnostic confidence, reduce false‐positive recalls, and minimize unnecessary biopsies within breast screening programs.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology
Published
2026-10-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/1754-9485.70206
Primary Topic
Digital Radiography and Breast Imaging
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

From Recall to Reassurance: Common Benign Mimics in Breast Screening Assessment—A Pictorial Review

Rose Radic, Emmeline Lee, Renata Nappoly, Gareth Porter et al.
Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology
Digital Radiography and Breast Imaging
article

From Recall to Reassurance: Common Benign Mimics in Breast Screening Assessment—A Pictorial Review

Rose Radic, Emmeline Lee, Renata Nappoly, Gareth Porter, Ravinder Dhillon, Glen Lo
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Benign breast lesions, anatomical variants, and imaging artefacts can closely mimic malignancy on screening mammography and are a frequent diagnostic challenge in the assessment setting. This pictorial review showcases a spectrum of benign lesions encountered in a high‐volume breast screening assessment setting that initially raised suspicion for malignancy but were subsequently confirmed as benign through a combination of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), targeted ultrasound, and clinicopathological correlation. Examples include cutaneous lesions, sebaceous cysts, intramammary lymph nodes, hamartomas, fat necrosis, vascular lesions, simple cysts and summation artefact. Through illustrative cases, we highlight key imaging features that support accurate lesion characterization and demonstrate the complementary roles of mammography, DBT, and ultrasound in distinguishing benign entities from breast cancer. Familiarity with these imaging appearances can improve diagnostic confidence, reduce false‐positive recalls, and minimize unnecessary biopsies within breast screening programs.

Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology
The University of Western Australia (AU), Curtin University (AU), King Edward Memorial Hospital (AU), Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (AU), BreastScreen WA (AU)
Openalex Percentile: Top 12%
Digital Radiography and Breast Imaging
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