Diagnostic Value of Shear Wave Elastography in Differentiation between Benign from Malignant Cervical Lymph Nodes

Abstract

Background: This study aims to evaluate the role of Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) in the differentiation of malignant from benign cervical lymph nodes and compare its accuracy with conventional ultrasound.
 Methods: Seventy-one lymph nodes (malignant=52, benign=19) were investigated by both conventional sonography and SWE. Shear Wave Velocity (SWV) and color map were obtained for each lymph node before tissue sampling. R statistical software (x64, v3.6.1) was used for statistical analysis.
 Results: Among all the conventional and elastography features, color map grading and shear wave velocity (SWV) had the most correlation with malignancy, even in normal-sized nodes. SWV was significantly correlated with the pathology (rpb=0.62, p<0.00). The best cutoff-value for SWV was 2.71 m/s (sensitivity: 82.7%, specificity:84.2%, AUC=0.92). The best predicting model by multivariate analysis was obtained by a combination of SWV and color map grading (sensitivity=92.3%, specificity=94.7%).
 Conclusion: SWE is a valuable method for the differentiation of malignant from benign lymph nodes. It would help to find the proper lymph node for biopsy.