The Value of Shear Wave Elastography in the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis and Its Correlation With Molecular Classification of Breast Masses

Changyun Luo; Li Lu; Weifu Zhang; Xiangqi Li; Ping Zhou; Zhangshen Ran

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.846568

The Value of Shear Wave Elastography in the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Axillary Lymph Node Metastasis and Its Correlation With Molecular Classification of Breast Masses

Front Oncol. 2022 Mar 17:12:846568. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.846568. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Changyun Luo¹, Li Lu², Weifu Zhang³, Xiangqi Li⁴, Ping Zhou⁵, Zhangshen Ran¹

Affiliations

¹ Regular Physical Examination Centre, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, China.
² Ultrasonography Department, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, China.
³ Public Health Section, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, China.
⁴ Breast Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, China.
⁵ Liyang People's Hospital, Liyang, China.

Abstract

Objective: To explore the diagnostic value of shear wave elastography examination (SWE) on axillary node metastasis (ANM) in breast cancer, this study aimed to evaluate the correlation between the SWE features and different molecular types of breast cancer, and to check the elastic modulus differences among the molecular types.

Methods: Breast cancer patients from November 2020 to December 2021 were subjected to both conventional ultrasonic examination (CUE) and SWE before ultrasound-guided percutaneous biopsy or axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). We used the pathological results as the gold standard to draw the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve.

Results: SWE outperforms CUE, but their conjunctive use is the best option. No significant correlation was found between the elastic modulus values and the molecular types of breast cancer.

Conclusion: SWE can be used as an routine auxiliary method of CUE for ANM.

Keywords: breast cancer; diagnosis; metastasis; molecular classification; shear wave elastography.