Diagnostic value of shear wave elastography and BI-RADS-US in benign and malignant breast lesions

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of shear wave elastography(SWE) and Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System-Ultrasonograpy(BI-RADS-US) in benign and malignant breast lesions. Methods 180 patients with pathological-confirmed benign and malignant breast lesions without any treatment were underwent ultrasonography scoring with BI-RADS and the quantitative elasticity parameters was measured by shear wave elastography 1week before operation.Pathological results were regarded as the gold standard, receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC) was used to determine cutoff values of quantitative parameters and diagnostic performance of two methods. Results Maximum elastic value(Emax) and mean elastic value(Emean) of benign breast lesions were (39.17±11.48) kPa and (21.56±9.68)kPa, which were significantly lower compared with the malignant breast lesions of (121.38±28.97) kPa and (62.92±18.49)kPa, respectively(t=23.668, P=0.000; t=18.194, P=0.000). Taking 43.79kPa and 65.15 kPa as the threshold of the Emean and Emax value, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of SWE were 92.59%, 90.78% and 94.84%, respectively.The areas under the curve(AUC) of the SWE and BI-RADS-US were 0.942 and 0.883(P=0.042). Conclusion SWE can improve the accuracy of ultrasonography in differentiation of benign from malignant breast lesions by quantitative elasticity parameters, which has important significance for clinical treatment. Key words: Shear wave elastography; Elasticity imaging techniques; Ultrasonography; Breast neoplasms