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Background <p>Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the sixth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Early detection and screening for breast cancer significantly enhance patients’ overall survival rates and quality of life. Since BI-RADS category 4 breast lesions are considered suspicious for malignancy, they are typically recommended for biopsy to achieve an accurate diagnosis, which creates psychological stress, physical damage, and economic burden for patients. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a noninvasive technique which quantifies the stiffness of breast lesions. It seeks to leverage the increased stiffness of malignant lesions compared to benign ones to assist in the differentiation between them.</p> Objective <p>To evaluate the role of SWE in differentiating benign from malignant breast masses.</p> Methods <p>A cross-sectional study included 36 female patients with breast masses referred to our department from the outpatient sonomammography clinic for breast ultrasonography. Biopsies were taken from breast lesions of the cases. Conventional B-mode ultrasonography and SWE were performed using the General Electric Logic P9 ultrasound system.</p> Results <p>Conventional B-mode breast ultrasonography together with SWE were done to the entire breast masses of the study group. There was a statistically significant increase in age of malignant group than benign group with <i>p</i>-value = 0.01. There was statistically significant increase in the level of Emax (kPa) of the malignant group compared to the benign group with <i>p</i>-value &lt; 0.001. The optimal cutoff value for Emax to differentiate between benign and malignant breast lesions was 57.2&#xa0;kPa, with a sensitivity of 95.0%, specificity of 90.0%, and an AUC of 0.944. There was no significant difference between different subtypes of malignant lesions regarding Emax values with <i>p</i>-value &gt; 0.05.</p> Conclusions <p>SWE shows promise as an adjunct tool in better characterization of breast masses. By improving the diagnostic efficiency of conventional ultrasound, it may help reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies in diagnosing breast cancer, particularly in BI-RADS 4 lesions.</p>

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Diagnostic role of shear wave elastography in differentiating benign from malignant breast masses

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年8月7日

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  • Zainab Mahmoud Sayed Mahmoud,
  • Maha Abdel Meguid El-Shinnawy,
  • Nesma Saied Ahmed Ahmed Ali

摘要

Background

Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the sixth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Early detection and screening for breast cancer significantly enhance patients’ overall survival rates and quality of life. Since BI-RADS category 4 breast lesions are considered suspicious for malignancy, they are typically recommended for biopsy to achieve an accurate diagnosis, which creates psychological stress, physical damage, and economic burden for patients. Shear wave elastography (SWE) is a noninvasive technique which quantifies the stiffness of breast lesions. It seeks to leverage the increased stiffness of malignant lesions compared to benign ones to assist in the differentiation between them.

Objective

To evaluate the role of SWE in differentiating benign from malignant breast masses.

Methods

A cross-sectional study included 36 female patients with breast masses referred to our department from the outpatient sonomammography clinic for breast ultrasonography. Biopsies were taken from breast lesions of the cases. Conventional B-mode ultrasonography and SWE were performed using the General Electric Logic P9 ultrasound system.

Results

Conventional B-mode breast ultrasonography together with SWE were done to the entire breast masses of the study group. There was a statistically significant increase in age of malignant group than benign group with p-value = 0.01. There was statistically significant increase in the level of Emax (kPa) of the malignant group compared to the benign group with p-value < 0.001. The optimal cutoff value for Emax to differentiate between benign and malignant breast lesions was 57.2 kPa, with a sensitivity of 95.0%, specificity of 90.0%, and an AUC of 0.944. There was no significant difference between different subtypes of malignant lesions regarding Emax values with p-value > 0.05.

Conclusions

SWE shows promise as an adjunct tool in better characterization of breast masses. By improving the diagnostic efficiency of conventional ultrasound, it may help reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies in diagnosing breast cancer, particularly in BI-RADS 4 lesions.