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Can strain elastography combined with ultrasound breast imaging reporting and data system be a more effective method in the differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions?

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Abstract

Purpose

To investigate whether a novel method that combines breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) with strain elastography contributes to diagnostic performance in differentiation of malignant and benign breast lesions.

Methods

In 81 patients, 81 breast lesions were prospectively investigated. Breast lesions were separately evaluated with ultrasonography and strain elastography. While evaluations with ultrasonography were based on 2003 BI-RADS-US, strain elastography evaluations were based on a 5-point scale and strain ratio. Diagnostic performances of ultrasonography, strain elastography, and the combined method were compared.

Results

Among 81 lesions, 43 (53.1%) were benign and 38 (46.9%) were malignant. When a cutoff point of category 3 was used, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and accuracy for BI-RADS were 100, 11.6, 50, 100, and 53%, respectively. When BI-RADS and strain ratio were combined, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and accuracy were 89.5, 93, 91.9, 90.9, and 91.3%, respectively. When BI-RADS and elastography scores were combined, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and accuracy were 86.8, 97.7, 97.1, 89.4, and 92.5%, respectively.

Conclusions

The combination of strain elastography and BI-RADS was found to have better diagnostic performances to diagnose breast lesions than BI-RADS alone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Konya Training and Research Hospital, Konya, Turkey

    Serdar Arslan

  2. Department of Radiology, Medical School of Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

    Nihal Uslu, Funda Ulu Ozturk & Ahmet Muhtesem Agildere

  3. Department of Pathology, Medical School of Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

    Eda Yilmaz Akcay

  4. Department of General Surgery, Medical School of Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey

    Tugan Tezcaner

  5. Hacı Şaban Mah. Meram Yeniyol Caddesi No: 97, Meram, Konya, 42090, Turkey

    Serdar Arslan

Authors
  1. Serdar Arslan
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  2. Nihal Uslu
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  3. Funda Ulu Ozturk
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  4. Eda Yilmaz Akcay
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  5. Tugan Tezcaner
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  6. Ahmet Muhtesem Agildere
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Serdar Arslan.

Ethics declarations

This study was supported by the Research Fund of Medical School of Baskent University, Ankara, Turkey.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and later versions.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Cite this article

Arslan, S., Uslu, N., Ozturk, F.U. et al. Can strain elastography combined with ultrasound breast imaging reporting and data system be a more effective method in the differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions?. J Med Ultrasonics 44, 289–296 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-017-0772-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10396-017-0772-y

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