Clinical value of the VTIQ technology in the differential diagnosis of superficially enlarged lymph nodes.

Abstract

Background Lymph node enlargement is a common clinical finding in clinical practice with different treatment strategies. Purpose To investigate the application of Virtual Touch Image Quantification (VTIQ) to diagnose benign and malignant superficial enlarged lymph nodes. Material and Methods Between December 2015 and August 2016, 116 superficial enlarged lymph nodes were examined by VTIQ. Maximum (Vmax), minimum (Vmin), and average (Vmean) shear wave velocities (SWV) were obtained from the lymph nodes and from normal muscular tissues (Vn) located at the same level and within 5 mm from the target lymph node. The pathological results were used as the gold standard to evaluate VTIQ. Results All 116 patients underwent fine-needle aspiration biopsy for pathological examination. Forty patients had malignant lymph nodes and 76 patients had benign lymph nodes. Lymph node characteristics on B-mode ultrasound showed no differences between malignant and benign lymph nodes, but there were differences in VTIQ parameters (all P < 0.001). Compared with pathological diagnosis as the gold standard, the area under the ROC curves of Vmax, Vmin, and Vmean were 0.815, 0.746, and 0.795. The Vmax cutoff value to diagnose benign from malignant lymph nodes was 3.045 m/s. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 70%, 78.9%, 63.6%, and 83.3%. Conclusion VTIQ has a clinical application in the differential diagnosis of superficial enlarged lymph nodes.