Could ultrasonic elastography help the diagnosis of breast cancer with the usage of sonographic BI-RADS classification?
OBJECTIVE
The purpose was to evaluate whether BI-RADS (the Breast Imaging Recording and Data System) combined with UE (ultrasound elastography) could improve the differentiation and characterization of benign and malignant breast lesions by comparing with BI-RADS.


METHODS
A total of 1080 patients with 1194 breast lesions were studied retrospectively at 8 different institutions from 3 geographic areas across China (North, South, and West) from June 2010 to March 2012. Each institutional ethic review board approved the study and all patients gave written informed consent. All the cases were examined by conventional US (ultrasonography) and UE prior to ultrasound-guided core biopsy. Performance of BI-RADS and BI-RADS combined with UE were compared in different size groups, age groups and area groups.


RESULTS
BI-RADS combined with UE cloud improve the accuracy by 13.2% compared to BI-RADS alone for all lesions, 23.2% for <10 mm lesions, 13.3% for ≥10-20 mm lesions, 6.3% for ≥20 mm lesions, 18.4% for <50 years group, 1.7% for ≥50 years group, 13.7% for northern area group, 17.7% for southern area group and 4.4% for western area group.


CONCLUSIONS
The help which UE contributed to BI-RADS was greater for breast lesions <10mm and <50 years group.
Department of Ultrasound, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
Shao-Yun
SY
Hao
Department of Ultrasound, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
Bing
B
Ou
Department of Ultrasound, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
Lu-Jing
LJ
Li
Department of Diagnostic Ultrasound and The National Key Discipline of Medical Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
Yu-Lan
YL
Peng
Department of Ultrasound, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, Zhejiang Province, China.
Yi
Y
Wang
Department of Ultrasound, Tumor Hospital Affiliated to Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, China.
Li-Sha
LS
Liu
Department of Ultrasound, Xiangya Hospital, Central-South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China.
Ying
Y
Xiao
Department of Ultrasound, ShengJing hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
Shou-Jun
SJ
Liu
Department of Ultrasound, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China.
Chang-Jun
CJ
Wu
Department of Ultrasound, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, Hebei Province, China.
Yu-Xin
YX
Jiang
Department of Diagnostic Ultrasound and The National Key Discipline of Medical Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China.
Shyam Sundar
SS
Parajuly
Department of Ultrasound, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, Zhejiang Province, China.
Ping
P
Xu
Department of Ultrasound, Tumor Hospital Affiliated to Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, China.
Yi
Y
Hao
Department of Ultrasound, ShengJing hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.
Jing
J
Li
Department of Ultrasound, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Electronic address: kendy181hui@yahoo.com.cn.
Hui
H
Zhi
Department of Ultrasound, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Electronic address: baomingluo2005@126.com.
Bao-Ming
BM
Luo
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002681:China; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011873:Radiology Information Systems; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016217:Ultrasonography, Mammary / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
BI-RADS; Breast; Multi-center; Neoplasm; UE