Mammogram texture analysis in prediction of axillary lymph node metastasis for breast carcinoma / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the value of mammogram texture analysis in prediction of metastasis of axillary lymph nodes for breast carcinoma.Methods Mammograms and clinical data of 171 patients with breast carcinoma confirmed by pathology were retrospectively analyzed,and all patients underwent axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).Then the patients were divided into axillary lymph node metastasis group and non-metastasis group according to the result of ALND.The texture features of these lesions were statistically analyzed,including gray-level histogram texture parameters (mean value,standard deviation,skewness,kurtosis and variance) and gray-level co-occurrence matrix texture parameters (energy,entropy,correlation,inertia,inverse difference moment and contrast).Results In all of 171 breast cancer patients,96patients had axillary lymph node metastasis,while 75 patients had no metastasis.Mammograms showed negative axillary lymph nodes in 119 patients and positive axillary lymph nodes in 52 patients,and the sensitivity and specificity of mammograms in the diagnosis of positive axillary lymph nodes was 48.96％ (47/96) and 93.33％ (70/75),respectively.Mammogram texture analysis showed the values of energy,entropy,inverse difference moment and correlation in axillary lymph node metastasis group were higher than those in non-metastasis group,while the values of inertia and contrast in the axillary lymph node metastasis group were lower than those in non-metastasis group (all P＜0.05).The rest texture parameters had no significant differences between two groups (all P＞0.05).Area under curve (AUC) for texture parameters of energy,entropy,inertia,inverse difference moment,correlation and contrast was 0.610,0.610,0.374,0.599,0.612 and 0.421 (all P＜0.05),respectively.AUC of mammography,mammogram texture features,and the combination of mammography and texture features was 0.711,0.676 and 0.787 (all P＜0.05),respectively.The sensitivity and specificity of mammogram texture features,the combination of mammography and texture features in diagnosis of axillary lymph nodes metastasis was 62.5％ and 64.6％,66.7％ and 82.7％,respectively.Conclusion Mammogram texture parameters are helpful for predicting axillary lymph node metastasis,and the combination of mammography and texture features can improve diagnostic efficiency of axillary lymph node metastasis.