Clinical application of shear wave elastography (SWE) in the diagnosis of benign and malignant breast diseases

• Published in: Breast cancer research and treatment 2011-08, Vol.129 (1), p.89-97
• Main Authors: Chang, Jung Min, Moon, Woo Kyung, Cho, Nariya, Yi, Ann, Koo, Hye Ryoung, Han, Wonsik, Noh, Dong-Young, Moon, Hyeong-Gon, Kim, Seung Ja
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Breast cancer; Breast Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Breast Diseases - pathology; Cancer research; Clinical Trial; Diagnostic tests; Elasticity Imaging Techniques; Female; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Mammary gland diseases; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Oncology; ROC Curve; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tumors; Ultrasonography, Mammary; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0167-6806; 1573-7217
• DOI: 10.1007/s10549-011-1627-7

Shear wave elastography (SWE) is an emerging technique which can obtain quantitative elasticity values in breast disease. We therefore evaluated the diagnostic performance of SWE for the differentiation of breast masses compared with conventional ultrasound (US). Conventional US and SWE were performed by three experienced radiologists for 158 consecutive women who had been scheduled for US-guided core biopsy or surgical excision in 182 breast masses (89 malignancies and 93 benign; mean size, 1.76 cm). For each lesion, quantitative elasticity was measured in terms of the Young’s modulus (in kilopascals, kPa) with SWE, and BI-RADS final categories were assessed with conventional US. The mean elasticity values were significantly higher in malignant masses (153.3 kPa ± 58.1) than in benign masses (46.1 kPa ± 42.9), ( P