ABSTRACT
Objective@#To investigate the correlation between the maximum elastic modulus(Emax) of breast cancer obtained by shear-wave elastography (SWE) and immunohistochemical profiles.@*Methods@#One hundred and sixty patients with 171 pathologically proven breast lesions were included in this study. All of them underwent conventional ultrasound and SWE examination before surgery. The Emax and maximum diameter were obtained. Histologic grade, immunohistochemical profiles ER, PR, HER-2, Ki-67 and molecular subtypes were recorded according to pathological results after surgery. The correlation between Emax and tumor size, histological grade, ER, PR, HER-2, Ki-67 and molecular subtypes were analyzed.@*Results@#①There was a positive correlation between the tumor size with Emax(r=0.510, P<0.05); ②The Emax of tumors with HER-2 positive expression were higher than that with HER-2 negative expression(P<0.05), the Emax of tumors with Ki67 high expression were higher than that with Ki67 low expression (P<0.05); ③There were significant differences in Emax between different molecular subtypes(P<0.05), the Emax of HER-2 positive tumor was the highest, followed by those of Luminal B tumor, triple-negative and Luminal A tumor; ④Multiple linear regression indicated that tumor size was the strongest pathologic determinate of Emax value(P<0.05), its standardized partial regression coefficient was 0.500, and HER-2 also had significant influence on Emax value of tumor(P<0.05), the standardized partial regression coefficient was 0.237.@*Conclusions@#Some prognosis immunohistochemical feature of breast cancer showed association with the Emax. Breast cancers with higher Emax at shear-wave elastography had poor prognostic features. To some extend, the value of Emax can reflect the biological characteristics of breast cancer, SWE may provide a certain imaging basis for the prognosis of breast cancer and the choice of treatment plan.