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2D shear wave elastography in evaluation of prognostic factors in breast cancer

  • Breast Radiology
  • Published:
La radiologia medica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the reproducibility of the 2D shear wave elastography (2D-SWE) method and to identify the prognostic factors of breast lesions.

Methods

In this prospective study, 44 female patients were consecutively included from January 2020 to September 2021. All patients showing visible masses at B-mode ultrasound underwent to clinical evaluation, followed by qualitative and quantitative 2D-SWE by two different operators with over 15-year and 2-year experience, respectively. Subsequently, patients underwent to surgical treatment after core needle biopsy. Reproducibility of qualitative and quantitative 2D-SWE was evaluated by Cohen’s kappa and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Clinical, imaging, and histopathological data and 2D-SWE evaluations were analysed with Spearman's rank correlation test.

Results

The mean age of the patients was 55 years ± 12. The mean histological and ultrasound tumour size of were 23.1 mm ± 13.2 and 17.2 mm ± 10.2, respectively. The interobserver agreement showed a good reproducibility limited to the qualitative evaluation colour maps (Cohen’s kappa = 0.603) and to the quantitative evaluation E ratio (ICC = 0.771). Correlation analysis between the ultrasound and 2D-SWE values and the clinical-pathological parameters showed a significant relationship between E ratio and Elston–Ellis grading (P < 0.030) and between tumour size and Elston–Ellis grading (P < 0.041).

Conclusion

The 2D-SWE has shown good reproducibility among operators with different experience. It could be a promising tool in the evaluation of some prognostic factors in ultrasound visible breast cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiological Sciences, Ospedali Riuniti Ancona, Università Politecnica Delle Marche - University Hospital, Via Tronto 10, 60126, Ancona, Italy

    Claudio Ventura, Silvia Baldassarre, Federico Cerimele, Elisabetta Marconi, Paola Ercolani, Chiara Floridi, Giulio Argalia & Andrea Giovagnoni

  2. Section of Pathological Anatomy and Histopathology, Ospedali Riuniti Ancona, Università Politecnica Delle Marche - University Hospital, Via Tronto 10 , 60126, Ancona, Italy

    Laura Pepi & Gaia Goteri

Authors
  1. Claudio Ventura
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  2. Silvia Baldassarre
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  3. Federico Cerimele
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  4. Laura Pepi
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  5. Elisabetta Marconi
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Contributions

SB, CV, EM, PE, GA, FC, and AG conceived the study. CV, SB, FC, EM, and PE were involved in data collection. SB, CV, FC, and LP interpreted data. CV was the major contributor in writing the manuscript. MM performed statistical analysis of the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudio Ventura.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interests associated with this study.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ventura, C., Baldassarre, S., Cerimele, F. et al. 2D shear wave elastography in evaluation of prognostic factors in breast cancer. Radiol med 127, 1221–1227 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-022-01559-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-022-01559-5

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