OBJECTIVE: Undertaking of a complete audit of the service of mammography, as recommended by BI-RADS^®, in a private reference institution for breast cancer diagnosis in the city of São Paulo, SP, Brazil, and comparison of results with those recommended by the literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective, analytical and cross-sectional study including 8,000 patients submitted to mammography in the period between April 2010 and March 2011, whose results were subjected to an internal audit. The patients were followed-up until December 2012. RESULTS: The radiological classification of 7,249 screening mammograms, according to BI-RADS, was the following: category 0 (1.43%), 1 (7.82%), 2 (80.76%), 3 (8.35%), 4 (1.46%), 5 (0.15%) and 6 (0.03%). The breast cancer detection ratio was 4.8 cases per 1,000 mammograms. Ductal carcinoma in situ was found in 22.8% of cases. Positive predictive values for categories 3, 4 and 5 were 1.3%, 41.3% and 100%, respectively. In the present study, the sensitivity of the method was 97.1% and specificity, 97.4%. CONCLUSION: The complete internal audit of a service of mammography is essential to evaluate the quality of such service, which reflects on an early breast cancer detection and reduction of mortality rates.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Mammographic screening; BI-RADS; Audit of mammography service; Percutaneous biopsy; Positive predictive value.

Soft-tissue calcifications are extremely common. Because the imaging findings are nonspecific, soft-tissue calcifications are often problematic for radiologists, sometimes prompting unnecessary interventions. In addition, the nomenclature is quite confusing. Classically, soft-tissue calcifications are divided into four categories, by mechanism of formation—dystrophic, iatrogenic, metastatic, and idiopathic—depending on the clinical and biochemical correlation. However, it is also possible to classify such calcifications by compartment, and that classification can be quite useful in the radiological diagnostic assessment. In this article, we illustrate the main causes of soft-tissue calcifications, organizing them according to their anatomical and pathophysiological aspects, thus narrowing the differential diagnosis.

Keywords: Calcinosis/diagnostic imaging; Radiography; Diagnosis, differential.