Electrical impedance scanning in the differentiation of suspicious breast lesions: comparison with mammography, ultrasound and histopathology

Abstract

To assess the value of Electrical Impedance Scanning (EIS) in the differentiation of suspicious breast lesions in comparison to mammography (MG) and ultrasound (US). In 95 female patients (median 53.1 ys) 95 suspicious breast lesions (BI-RADS TM III - V) in MG or US underwent targeted EIS (TransScan TS 2000(R); TransScan Medical, Israel; Siemens Elema, Sweden). Histopathologic proof (vacuum-assisted biopsy or surgical biopsy) was obtained in all cases. MG, US and EIS were independently assessed by two radiologists in consensus. Chi-square tests as well as variance-analysis for ROC-statistics were performed. Of 95 lesions, 44 were benign, 51 malignant. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were, respectively for MG 95.3 %, 23.5 %, 51.3 % and 85.7 %, for US 86.5 %, 44.2 %, 57.1 % and 79.1 %, for EIS 77.3 %, 82.3 %, 79.1 % and 80.8 %. The ROC-analysis revealed a significant greater area under the curve for EIS than for MG and US. The sensitivity for EIS was higher in lesions < 10 mm (n = 26; 100 %) and in invasive cancers (n = 31; 80.6 %). The negative predictive value of EIS was higher in BI-RADS TM-IV-lesions (83.9 %) as well as in dense breast parenchyma on the mammogram (86.7 %). EIS shows potential adjunctive value to MG and US in the differentiation of suspicious breast lesions.