Elastosonography in the Characterization of Breast Masses in Black Women in Lomé (Togo)

Abstract

Objective: study the contribution of elastosonography in the characterization of breast masses. Methods: a prospective and descriptive study took place over a period of 6 months from February to July 2020 in the department of radiology of the Sylvanus Olympio teaching hospital in Lome. Patients presenting a breast mass diagnosed by the conventional ultrasound were invited to take part in the study. Result: in total, fifty-four patients met our selection criteria, for an overall frequency of 2.9%. The average age of our patients was 24.2 years old with the 20-29 years age group being the most represented. The mean lesion size was 18.8mm with extremes of 5 and 35mm. The lesions classified as Birads 3 were the most prevalent (40.4%) and they all had an elasticity score of less than 3. 75% of the lesions classified as Birads 4 also had an elasticity score less than 3. All lesions classified as Birads 5 had an elasticity score greater than 4. We obtained a statistically significant relationship between the Birads classification and the elastographic score and also by differentiating the mammary masses into benign and malignant lesions by these two modalities. Conclusion: elastosonography is a diagnostic imaging method that allows rapid and easy evaluation of breast lesions and it provides a valuable addition to the ultrasound data in real-time. It provides complementary diagnostic information that could potentially assist in the characterization of breast lesions by B-mode ultrasound.