Diagnostic value of virtual touch tissue quantification in nonpalpable breast lesions

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of virtual touch tissue quantification (VTQ) for nonpalpable breast masses. Methods Two hundred and one nonpalpable breast masses in 176 women who had been scheduled for a sonographically guided core biopsy or operation were examined with the B-mode sonography and VTQ. The pathologic diagnosis was used as the golden standard. The diagnostic performances of the two methods were evaluated with receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC). Results The mean shear wave velocity (SWV) measurement values were (6.17±1.95)m/s in malignant masses and (3.39±1.82)m/s in benign masses(P<0.01), respectively. The area under the ROC curve was 0.789 for the VTQ and 0.840 for the BI-RADS-US, respectively. No statistically difference was found between them. The area under the ROC curve of the combination of the two methods was 0.934, the diagnostic performance of the combination was better than that of BI-RADS-US(P<0.01)and VTQ alone (P<0.01). Conclusions VTQ is a good method for diagnosing nonpalpable breast lesions. The combination of BI-RADS-US and VTQ has better diagnostic performance for differentiation of nonpalpable breast lesions, which has important value in clinical application. Key words: Ultrasonography; Breast diseases; Nirtual touch tissue quantification