The role of tissue elasticity in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions using shear wave elastography

Abstract Background Elastography is a promising way to evaluate tissue differences regarding stiffness, and the stiffness of the malignant breast lesions increased at the lesion margin. However, there is a lack of data on the value of the shear wave elastography (SWE) parameters of the surrounding tissue (shell) of different diameter on the diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of shell elasticity in the diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions using SWE. Methods Between September 2016 and June 2017, women with breast lesions underwent both conventional ultrasound (US) and SWE. Elastic values of the lesions peripheral tissue were determined according to the shell size, which was automatically drawn along the edge of the lesion using the following software guidelines: (1): 1 mm; (2): 2 mm; and (3): 3 mm. Quantitative elastographic features of the inner lesions and shell, including the elasticity mean (Emean), elasticity maximum (Emax), and elasticity minimum (Emin), were calculated using an online-available software. The receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) of the elastographic features was analyzed to assess the diagnostic performance, and the area under curve (AUC) of each elastographic feature was obtained. Logistic regression analysis was used to predict significant factors of malignancy, permitting the design of predictive models. Results This prospective study included 63 breast lesions of 63 women. Of the 63 lesions, 33 were malignant and 30 were benign. The diagnostic performance of Emax-3shell was the highest (AUC = 0.76) with a sensitivity of 60.6% and a specificity of 83.3%. According to stepwise logistic regression analysis, the Emax-3shell and the Emin-3shell were significant predictors of malignancy (p < 0.05). The AUC of the predictive equation was 0.86. Conclusions SWE features, particularly the combination of Emax-3shell and Emin-3shell can improve the diagnosis of breast lesions.

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The value of peri-lesional tissue stiffness and stiff rim sign in the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant breast lesions

10.21203/rs.2.10742/v1 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

wen-tao Kong ◽

yin Wang ◽

wei-jun Zhou ◽

yi-dang Zhang ◽

xiao-ming Zhuang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shear Wave ◽

Diagnostic Performance ◽

Breast Lesion ◽

Elasticity Modulus ◽

Shear Wave Elastography ◽

Surrounding Tissue ◽

Pathological Examination ◽

Breast Lesions ◽

Tissue Stiffness ◽

Malignant Lesions

Abstract Background Shear wave elastography (SWE) is an important method in the diagnosis of breast lesions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the value of tissue stiffness around breast lesion and stiff rim sign for the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions. Methods 192 patients (mean age, 44.6 ± 13.6 years) with 199 breast lesions proven by pathological examination underwent shear wave elastography (SWE). We first observed if there was a stiff rim sign. Then the shell around the breast lesion on SWE was automatically drawn by machine, with width of 1mm, 2mm and 3mm. Elasticity modulus of the lesion and surrounding tissue were recorded, including maximum elasticity (Emax), mean elasticity (Emean), minimum elasticity (Emin) and elasticity ratio (shell/lesion ratio). The optimal thresholds of elasticity modulus were calculated according to receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results There were 75 malignant lesions and 124 benign lesions. The average Emax, Emean of lesion and shell were significantly higher in the malignant group than in the benign group (P<0.05). The optimal cut-off value of Emax for diagnosing malignant lesion was 101.7 Kpa, with a sensitivity of 66.3% and specificity of 87.9%. The optimal cut-off value of Emean was 29.1 Kpa, with a sensitivity of 65.3% and specificity of 79.8%. The stiff rim sign had a highest diagnostic performance for malignancy than other elastic parameters, with an accuracy of 88.4%. However, measuring peritumoral tissue stiffness can achieve a relatively high sensitivity, whereas specificity was not improved significantly. Conclusion The stiffness of tissue surrounding breast malignancy was significantly higher than benign lesion. Stiff rim sign has the potential to improve the diagnostic performance of breast lesions.

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A qualitative and quantitative assessment of simultaneous strain, shear wave, and point shear wave elastography to distinguish malignant and benign breast lesions

Acta Radiologica ◽

10.1177/0284185120961422 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 028418512096142

Author(s):

Yasemin Altıntas ◽

Mehmet Bayrak ◽

Ömer Alabaz ◽

Medih Celiktas

Keyword(s):

Shear Wave ◽

Diagnostic Performance ◽

Area Under The Curve ◽

Shear Wave Elastography ◽

Strain Ratio ◽

Breast Lesions ◽

Breast Masses ◽

Malignant Breast ◽

The Mean ◽

Us Elastography

Background Ultrasound (US) elastography has become a routine instrument in ultrasonographic diagnosis that measures the consistency and stiffness of tissues. Purpose To distinguish benign and malignant breast masses using a single US system by comparing the diagnostic parameters of three kinds of breast elastography simultaneously added to B-mode ultrasonography. Material and Methods A total of 163 breast lesions in 159 consecutive women who underwent US-guided core needle biopsy were included in this prospective study. Before the biopsy, the lesions were examined with B-mode ultrasonography and strain (SE), shear wave (SWE), and point shear wave (STQ) elastography. The strain ratio was computed and the Tsukuba score determined. The mean elasticity values using SWE and STQ were computed and converted to Young’s modulus E (kPa). Results All SE, SWE, and STQ parameters showed similar diagnostic performance. The SE score, SE ratio, SWEmean, SWEmax, STQmean, and STQmax yielded higher specificity than B-mode US alone to differentiate benign and malignant masses. The sensitivity of B-mode US, SWE, and STQ was slightly higher than that of the SE score and SE ratio. The SE score, SE ratio, SWEmean, SWEmax, STQmean, and STQmax had significantly higher positive predictive value and diagnostic accuracy than B-mode US alone. The area under the curve for each of these elastography methods in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions was 0.93, 0.93, 0.98, 0.97, 0.98, and 0.96, respectively; P<0.001 for all measurements. Conclusion SE (ratio and score), SWE, and STQ had higher diagnostic performance individually than B-mode US alone in distinguishing between malignant and benign breast masses.

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Impact of region of interest (ROI) size on the diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography in differentiating solid breast lesions

Acta Radiologica ◽

10.1177/0284185117732097 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 59 (6) ◽

pp. 657-663 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Jin Hee Moon ◽

Ji-Young Hwang ◽

Jeong Seon Park ◽

Sung Hye Koh ◽

Sun-Young Park

Keyword(s):

Shear Wave ◽

Sensitivity And Specificity ◽

Diagnostic Performance ◽

Characteristic Curve ◽

Region Of Interest ◽

Shear Wave Elastography ◽

Breast Lesions ◽

Malignant Breast ◽

Solid Lesions ◽

The Impact

Background Shear wave elastography (SWE) using a region of interest (ROI) can demonstrate the quantitative elasticity of breast lesions. Purpose To prospectively evaluate the impact of two different ROI sizes on the diagnostic performance of SWE for differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions. Material and Methods A total of 154 breast lesions were included. Two types of ROIs were investigated: one involving an approximately 2-mm diameter, small round ROIs placed over the stiffest area of the lesion, as determined by SWE (ROI-S); and another ROI drawn along the margin of the lesion using a touch pen or track ball to encompass the entire lesion (ROI-M). Maximum elasticity (Emax), mean elasticity (Emean), minimum elasticity (Emin), and standard deviation (SD) were measured for the two ROIs. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) as well as the sensitivity and specificity of each elasticity value were determined. Results The AUCs for ROI-S were higher than those for ROI-M when differentiating benign and malignant breast solid lesions. The Emax, Emean, Emin, and SD of the elasticity values for ROI-S were 0.865, 0.857, 0.816, and 0.849, respectively, and for ROI-M were 0.820, 0.780, 0.724, and 0.837, respectively. However, only Emax ( P = 0.0024) and Emean ( P = 0.0015) showed statistically significant differences. For ROI-S, the sensitivity and specificity of Emax were 78.8% and 84.3%, respectively, and those for Emean were 80.8% and 81.4%, respectively. Conclusion Using ROI-S with Emax and Emean has better diagnostic performance than ROI-M for differentiating between benign and malignant breast lesions.

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US-Elastography for Breast Lesion Characterization: Prospective Comparison of US BIRADS, Strain Elastography and Shear wave Elastography

Ultraschall in der Medizin - European Journal of Ultrasound ◽

10.1055/a-1134-4937 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Vito Cantisani ◽

Emanuele David ◽

Richard G. Barr ◽

Maija Radzina ◽

Valeria de Soccio ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shear Wave ◽

Diagnostic Performance ◽

Color Doppler ◽

Shear Wave Elastography ◽

Strain Ratio ◽

Breast Lesions ◽

Strain Elastography ◽

Prospective Comparison ◽

Malignant Breast ◽

Sensitivity Specificity

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic performance of strain elastography (SE) and 2 D shear wave elastography (SWE) and SE/SWE combination in comparison with conventional multiparametric ultrasound (US) with respect to improving BI-RADS classification results and differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions using a qualitative and quantitative assessment. Materials and Methods In this prospective study, 130 histologically proven breast masses were evaluated with baseline US, color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS), SE and SWE (Toshiba Aplio 500 with a 7–15 MHz wide-band linear transducer). Each lesion was classified according to the BIRADS lexicon by evaluating the size, the B-mode and color Doppler features, the SE qualitative (point color scale) and SE semi-quantitative (strain ratio) methods, and quantitative SWE. Histological results were compared with BIRADS, strain ratio (SR) and shear wave elastography (SWE) all performed by one investigator blinded to the clinical examination and mammographic results at the time of the US examination. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the diagnostic performance of B-mode US, SE, SWE, and their combination. Results Histological examination revealed 47 benign and 83 malignant breast lesions. The accuracy of SR was statistically significantly higher than SWE (sensitivity, specificity and AUC were 89.2 %, 76.6 % and 0.83 for SR and 72.3 %, 66.0 % and 0.69 for SWE, respectively, p = 0.003) but not higher than B-mode US (B-mode US sensitivity, specificity and AUC were 85.5 %, 78.8 %, 0.821, respectively, p = 1.000). Conclusion Our experience suggests that conventional US in combination with both SE and SWE is a valid tool that can be useful in the clinical setting, can improve BIRADS category assessment and may help in the differentiation of benign from malignant breast lesions, with SE having higher accuracy than SWE.

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Elastic Modulus and Elasticity Ratio of Malignant Breast Lesions with Shear Wave Ultrasound Elastography: Variations with Different Region of Interest and Lesion Size

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics11061015 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 1015

Author(s):

Antonio Bulum ◽

Gordana Ivanac ◽

Eugen Divjak ◽

Iva Biondić Špoljar ◽

Martina Džoić Dominković ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Elastic Modulus ◽

Shear Wave ◽

Large Diameter ◽

Small Diameter ◽

Shear Wave Elastography ◽

Lesion Size ◽

Ultrasound Elastography ◽

Breast Lesions ◽

Malignant Breast ◽

The Impact

Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a type of ultrasound elastography with which the elastic properties of breast tissues can be quantitatively assessed. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of different regions of interest (ROI) and lesion size on the performance of SWE in differentiating malignant breast lesions. The study included 150 female patients with histopathologically confirmed malignant breast lesions. Minimal (Emin), mean (Emean), maximal (Emax) elastic modulus and elasticity ratio (e-ratio) values were measured using a circular ROI size of 2, 4 and 6 mm diameters and the lesions were divided into large (diameter ≥ 15 mm) and small (diameter < 15 mm). Highest Emin, Emean and e-ratio values and lowest variability were observed when using the 2 mm ROI. Emax values did not differ between different ROI sizes. Larger lesions had significantly higher Emean and Emax values, but there was no difference in e-ratio values between lesions of different sizes. In conclusion, when measuring the Emin, Emean and e-ratio of malignant breast lesions using SWE the smallest possible ROI size should be used regardless of lesion size. ROI size has no impact on Emax values while lesion size has no impact on e-ratio values.

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