Ultrasound Elastography in the Differential Diagnosis of Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions / 华中科技大学学报(医学版)

ABSTRACT

Objective To assess the value of ultrasound elastography (UE) in the differential diagnosis of benign and ma‐lignant breast masses.Methods Clinical data of 180 female patients with breast masses were collected. A total of 180 masses in these patients were detected by ultrasound (US) and UE to primarily identify the benign or malignant masses before surgery. The diagnostic coincidence rate and values of ROC curve were compared based on the postoperative pathologic results between the two diagnosis methods.Results Forty‐eight benign masses and 127 malignant masses were correctly diagnosed by UE ,and 38 benign masses and 112 malignant masses by US. The sensitivity ,specificity ,accuracy ,positive predictive value and negative predictive value were higher in UE group than in US group ,and there were significant statistical differences (P<0.05 for all). Furthermore ,the value of area under the ROC curve (AUC) in UE group was 0.926 ,significantly higher than that in US group (0.899) (Z=2.8 ,P<0.05).Conclusion UE has the advantages of high sensitivity ,specificity and accuracy in differential di‐agnosis of the nature of breast masses. In terms of some disadvantages of UE ,UE should be combined with US in the diagnosis of benign and malignant breast diseases.