Tips for learning to see architectural distortion for breast imaging

[hot_thicc_potato]

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I'm an R2 and just finished my first breast imaging rotation.

After 4 weeks with an average of 10 mammograms per day, I still can't see architectural distortion. I'm starting to worry that I don't quite understand breast architecture or that something is wrong with my search pattern.

Am I the only one?

 

[guytakingboards]

10 mammograms per day is not very many. Once you start getting into the larger numbers per day, your eye will sharpen and you'll start picking more stuff up. It's all pattern recognition.

Lol, don't sweat it. I think very few people crush mammo after their first rotation.

 

[Aurum]

You need to be reading 30-40 screeners (at least) per day to start developing an eye for the subtle

 

[vm26]

I'm an R2 and just finished my first breast imaging rotation.

After 4 weeks with an average of 10 mammograms per day, I still can't see architectural distortion. I'm starting to worry that I don't quite understand breast architecture or that something is wrong with my search pattern.

Am I the only one?

I'm assuming you're reading tomo. Ask your attending to show you a screener from any patient that has had prior lumpectomy/excisional biopsy and you will see architectural distortion. It will "pop" out to you on 1-2 tomo slices and you will see it on both views. Some women have a background parenchyma pattern that makes seeing this a bit more challenging.