Real-time elastography for the differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions: a meta-analysis

Xia Gong; Qiuhua Xu; Zhengliang Xu; Ping Xiong; Weili Yan; Yazhu Chen

doi:10.1007/s10549-011-1745-2

Real-time elastography for the differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions: a meta-analysis

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2011 Nov;130(1):11-8. doi: 10.1007/s10549-011-1745-2. Epub 2011 Aug 26.

Authors

Xia Gong¹, Qiuhua Xu, Zhengliang Xu, Ping Xiong, Weili Yan, Yazhu Chen

Affiliation

¹ Department of Ultrasound, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200011, China.

PMID: 21870128
DOI: 10.1007/s10549-011-1745-2

Abstract

The prognostic significance of ultrasound real-time elastography (RTE) in patients with breast lesions is controversial. There are two different diagnostic methods: the elasticity score (ES) and the strain ratio (SR). A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effect model to assess the overall sensitivity and specificity of RTE in the differentiation of breast lesions. MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library before February 2011 were searched. A total of 22 studies, which included 4,713 breast nodules in 4,266 patients were analyzed. The overall mean sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of malignant breast lesions by RTE were 0.834 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.814-0.853] and 0.842 (95% CI, 0.829-0.854) for ES, and 0.883 (95% CI, 0.844-0.916) and 0.814 (95% CI, 0.786-0.839) for SR, respectively. RTE has a high sensitivity and specificity in the evaluation of breast lesions and can potentially reduce unnecessary breast biopsies.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Breast Diseases / diagnostic imaging*
Breast Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging*
Elasticity Imaging Techniques*
Female
Humans
Models, Statistical
Publication Bias
Sensitivity and Specificity