Abstract
Aim of the work: To evaluate the value of real-time ultrasound elastography (RTE) in differentiating benign from malignant breast masses.
Materials and methods: This study included, whether palpable or non-palpable, 145 sonographically proven breast masses in 121 patients, imaged by conventional B-mode US, color-flow Doppler US and RTE with histopathological analysis considered as the golden standard reference.
Results: Lesions were differentiated into benign and malignant by conventional B-mode US (79; 45.5% and 66; 54.5%, respectively), RTE (80; 55.2% and 65; 44.8% respectively), and histopathology (82; 56.6% and 63; 43.4%, respectively). The mean difference in the mass size was significant between B-mode US and RTE in malignant masses (P = 0.002), while not significant among benign masses (P = 0.153). The B-mode US depicted sensitivity of 92.06%, specificity of 90.24%, PPV of 87.88%, NPV of 93.67% and accuracy of 91.03%, while the RTE showed sensitivity of 98.41%, specificity of 96.34%, PPV of 95.38%, NPV of 98.75% and accuracy of 97.24%.
Conclusion: Combined use of RTE can complement conventional B-mode US with improving its diagnostic performance in differentiating breast lesions with subsequent reduction in the rate of unnecessary biopsies in benign lesions. (C) 2014 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Egyptian Society of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine.