Differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions using Comb-Push Ultrasound Shear Elastography

Abstract

In this work, the results from our Comb Push Ultrasound Shear Elastography (CUSE) assessment of suspicious breast lesions are presented. The elasticity value of the breast lesions are correlated to histopathological findings to evaluate their diagnostic value in differentiating between malignant and benign breast lesions. A total of 44 patients diagnosed with suspicious breast lesions were evaluated using CUSE prior to biopsy. All patient study procedures were conducted according to the protocol approved by Mayo Clinic Institutional Review Board (IRB). Our cohort consisted of 27 malignant and 17 benign breast lesions. The results indicate an increase in shear wave velocity in both benign and malignant lesions compared to normal breast tissue. Furthermore, the Young’s modulus is significantly higher in malignant lesions. An optimal cut-off value of the Young’s modulus ≥ 80 kPa was observed for the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. This is concordant with the published cut-off values of elasticity for suspicious breast lesions. [This work is supported in part by the grant 3R01CA148994-04S1 and 5R01CA148994-04 from NIH.]