Utility of B-Mode, Color Doppler and Elastography in the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer: Results of the CD-CONFIRM Multicenter Study of 1351 Breast Solid Masses

Abstract

The usefulness of color Doppler ultrasound (CD) in distinguishing between benign and malignant breast lesions remains controversial. Our prior study, the Japan Association of Breast and Thyroid Sonology (JABTS) BC-04 study (malignant: 839, benign: 569), found CD was useful in breast cancer diagnosis, and we developed CD diagnostic criteria. The first aim of the current study (the CD-CONFIRM study) was to evaluate the usefulness of the CD diagnostic criteria. The second aim was to evaluate the relationship between CD and elastography. We evaluated ultrasound images of breast masses from 13 institutions (malignant: 639, benign: 712). While the sensitivity of B-mode alone was very high and was not significantly improved with CD, the specificity was significantly improved with CD (61.2%-69.2%, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, the specificity of the combination of B-mode and CD improved significantly with the addition of elastography (72.8%-79.0%, p < 0.0001). This study found that the CD criteria are useful, and CD and elastography are independent.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Color Doppler; Diagnostic criteria; Elastography; Multicenter study; Ultrasound.