Background: Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) has never been revealed by preoperative scans. It is necessary to use digital mammography in predicting LVI in patients with breast cancer preoperatively.
Methods: Overall 122 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma diagnosed between May 2017 and September 2018 were enrolled and assigned into the LVI positive group (n = 42) and the LVI negative group (n = 80). Independent t-test and χ2 test were performed.
Results: Difference in Ki-67 between the two groups was statistically significant (P = 0.012). Differences in interstitial edema (P = 0.013) and skin thickening (P = 0.000) were statistically significant between the two groups. Multiple factor analysis showed that there were three independent risk factors for LVI: interstitial edema (odds ratio [OR] = 12.610; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.061-149.922; P = 0.045), blurring of subcutaneous fat (OR = 0.081; 95% CI: 0.012-0.645; P = 0.017) and skin thickening (OR = 9.041; 95% CI: 2.553-32.022; P = 0.001).
Conclusions: Interstitial edema, blurring of subcutaneous fat, and skin thickening are independent risk factors for LVI. The specificity of LVI prediction is as high as 98.8% when the three are used together.
Keywords: Breast cancer; Digital mammography; Lymphovascular invasion.