Breast ultrasound elastography--results of 193 breast lesions in a prospective study with histopathologic correlation.

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic performance of ultrasound elastography in breast masses. Material and methods 193 lesions (129 benign, 64 malignant) were analyzed with the EUB 8500 Logos-ultrasonic-unit (Hitachi Medical, Japan) and a linear-array-transducer of 7.5–13-MHz. Standard of reference was cytology (FNAfine needle aspiration) or histology (core biopsy). The elastic-score was classified according to a 6-point colour-scale (Ueno classification; 1–3 = benign, 4–5 = malignant). Conventional B-mode ultrasound (US) findings were classified according to the BI-RADS classification. Statistical analysis included sensitivity, specificity, ROC-analysis and kappa-values for intra-/interobserver reliability. Results The mean score for elasticity was 4.1 ± 0.9 for malignant lesions, and 2.1 ± 1.0 for benign lesions ( p p Conclusion In our study setting, elastography does not have the potential to replace conventional B-mode US for the detection of breast cancer, but may complement conventional US to improve the diagnostic performance.