Sensitivity Of Ultrasound Imaging Research Articles

Predictive value of ultrasound imaging in differentiating benign from malignant breast lesions taking biopsy results as the standard.

Background:Breast lesions (BLs) are abnormal swellings within the breast. The importance lies in need to exclude breast cancer.Objective:Due to the role of ultrasound (US) imaging in evaluating of BLs, this study was conducted to evaluate the predictive value of US imaging for differentiating benign from malignant BLs and to assess the need of biopsy in BLs.Method:A retrospective review of diagnostic results of 134 patients with BLs. All patients underwent breast US imaging and US-guided biopsy for cytology or histopathology. The results of both were compared.Results:Out of 134 patients were included in this study, the mean age was 38.45 ± 15.82 years (range, 18–90 years), and all patients were female. BLs were benign in 99 cases (73.9%) and malignant in 35 cases (26.1%). Among 98 patients with BLs diagnosed benign with US, 96.9% were confirmed benign with biopsy results and only 3.1% were malignant. The overall sensitivity of US imaging for discriminating of benign BLs was 95.95%, with a specificity of 91.42%, and positive predictive value of 96.94%. The results revealed strong compatibility between diagnoses by US imaging and biopsy results (P < 0.001), the measure of agreement kappa = 0.866, and the Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.866.Conclusion:US imaging is a highly valuable imaging method in differentiating benign from malignant BLs. It usually predicts the benign nature of BLs with excellent diagnostic accuracy. US-guided fine-needle aspiration and core-needle biopsies are not necessary in most cases of BLs.

Laser-driven resonance of light-absorbing ultrasound contrast microbubbles

The sensitivity of ultrasound imaging is greatly enhanced by the use of microbubble contrast agents through resonant volumetric oscillations. While the increased acoustic contrast is of prime interest for perfusion imaging of organs, microbubbles until now have limited benefit in terms of specificity for ultrasound imaging. Original strategies are required to tackle this difficulty that rely on loading functional targeting ligands onto the microbubble encapsulation. In parallel, laser light offers great specificity in its interaction with tissue. This advantage is put to use in photoacoustic imaging where absorbed laser light is converted into a measurable acoustic signal. Here, we present a novel ultrasound contrast agent designed to make use of the specificity of laser light. The acoustic agent consists of a gas core encapsulated by an oil layer containing an absorbing dye. The resulting laser light absorption can then be used to heat up the gas and drive the system into resonance, thereby generating ultrasound. Combining finite difference simulations and ultra high-speed imaging led to a quantitative physical description of the optical and thermal interactions in the system resulting in the efficient generation of acoustic waves in the MHz range. A range of physical bubble parameters are investigated, i.e., thickness and composition of the light absorbing oil layer. This new generation of contrast agents will open up new applications in medical diagnostic and therapeutic imaging.

Reply: Incidence of symptomatic vertebrobasilar stenosis in the general population

We thank Lago and colleagues for their interest in our study and their comments. We agree that there are no published data comparing specificity and sensitivity of ultrasound imaging in detecting carotid stenosis and contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (ceMRA) in detecting vertebrobasilar stenosis. However, ultrasound is known to be a reliable method for detection of stenosis at the carotid bifurcation, although it will inevitably miss a few patients with proximal common carotid artery stenosis or distal internal carotid stenosis. Contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging has proved to be reliable in detecting stenosis in the vertebral …