A Study on Elastic Ultrasound Waves Needed to Evaluate Tumors in the Breast

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Hye-Ri Chun, Pyong-Kon Cho, Hyon-Chol Jang

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This study aims to determine the usefulness of the shear wave elastography during breast ultrasound for reducing unnecessary biopsy.


Methods/Statistical analysis


From patients who underwent breast ultrasound from September to December 2019, 69 patients with breast nodules were identified and their biopsies were retrospectively analyzed.


The average age of the patients was 47.75 years. Using shear wave elastography, we found the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value to be 86.67%, 76.92%, 81.16%, 74.29%, and 88.24%, respectively.


Findings: In the comparative analysis of shear wave elastography and the biopsy method, the kappa value was high found to be 0.624 (p < 0.05), implying a good agreement between the two methods. During breast ultrasound examination, shear wave elastography ultrasound aided the differential diagnosis of malignant and benign breast masses.


Improvements/Applications: This study was conducted on a small patient group. In the future, additional testing will need to be done on a larger scale.

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