Acoustic radiation force impulse elastography in differential diagnosis of breast masses

Abstract

Objective To explore the application value of acoustic radiation force impulse(ARFI) in the differential diagnosis of breast lesions.Methods Eighty six patients with 107 lesions were performed ARFI elastography.The stiffness of the masses in virtual touch tissue image(VTI) were scored.The pathological diagnosis as the gold standard,drawed the ROC curve to find the cut off point of area ratio to predict breast cancer.Shear wave velocity(SWV) within the breast masses were measured using virtual touch tissue quantification(VTQ) technique.Results The elastography hardness score higher than grade 4 was mainly distributed in the malignancies compared to benign lesions( P ＜0.01).1.53 as the cut-off point of area ratio,sensitivity and specificity of diagnosing breast cancer were 95.7 ％,92.5 ％.SWV of malignant group higher than benign group,the difference was statistically significant (P ＜ 0.001 ).Conclusions Hardness score in VTI imaging,area ratio of benign and malignant lesions,SWV within the breast masses can help the differential diagnosis of breast lesions. Key words: Ultrasonography; Breast diseases; Acoustic radiation force impulse