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Simultaneous comparison between strain and shear wave elastography of breast masses for the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions by qualitative and quantitative assessments

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Abstract

Purpose

To compare the addition of diagnostic strain elastography (SE) and shear wave elastography (SWE) values to the conventional B-mode ultrasonography in differentiating between benign and malignant breast masses by qualitative and quantitative assessments.

Materials and methods

B-mode ultrasound, SE, and SWE were simultaneously performed using one ultrasound system in 148 breast masses; 88 of them were malignant. The breast imaging reporting and data system category in the B-mode, Tsukuba score (SETsu), Fat-Lesion-Ratio (SEFLR) in SE, and five-point color assessment (SWEcol) and elasticity values (SWEela) in SWE were assessed. The results were compared using the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC).

Result

The AUC for B-mode and each elastography were similar (B-mode, 0.889; SETsu, 0.885; SEFLR, 0.875; SWEcol, 0.881; SWEela, 0.885; P > 0.05). The combined sets between B-mode and either of the elastography technique showed good diagnostic performance (B-mode + SETsu, 0.903; B-mode + SEFLR, 0.909; B-mode + SWEcol, 0.919; B-mode + SWEela, 0.914). B-mode + SWEcol and B-mode + SWEela showed a higher AUC than B-mode alone (P = 0.026 and 0.029), and B-mode + SETsu and B-mode + SEFLR showed comparable AUC to B-mode alone (P = 0.196 and 0.085). There was no significant difference between qualitative and quantitative assessments for the combined sets of B-mode and elastography (P > 0.05).

Conclusion

The addition of both SE and SWE to B-mode ultrasound improved the diagnostic performance with increased AUC, and especially SWE was more useful than SE, and no significant difference was found between qualitative and quantitative assessments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8510, Japan

    Tomoyuki Fujioka, Mio Mori, Kazunori Kubota, Yuka Kikuchi, Leona Katsuta & Ukihide Tateishi

  2. Department of Surgery, Breast Surgery, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan

    Mai Kasahara, Goshi Oda, Toshiyuki Ishiba & Tsuyoshi Nakagawa

Authors
  1. Tomoyuki Fujioka
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  2. Mio Mori
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  3. Kazunori Kubota
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  4. Yuka Kikuchi
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  5. Leona Katsuta
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  6. Mai Kasahara
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  7. Goshi Oda
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  8. Toshiyuki Ishiba
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  9. Tsuyoshi Nakagawa
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  10. Ukihide Tateishi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazunori Kubota.

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This manuscript has not been published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. All the authors have read the manuscript and have approved this submission. All the authors and their institution have no conflicts of interest.

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Fujioka, T., Mori, M., Kubota, K. et al. Simultaneous comparison between strain and shear wave elastography of breast masses for the differentiation of benign and malignant lesions by qualitative and quantitative assessments. Breast Cancer 26, 792–798 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-019-00985-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-019-00985-0

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