The diagnostic performance of shear wave velocity ratio for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions: Compared with VTQ, and mammography.

PURPOSE To evaluate the diagnostic value of shear wave velocity (SWV) ratio for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions. MATERIAL AND METHODS Our retrospective study included 151 breast lesions that were diagnosed by biopsy and surgical pathology. All of the breast lesions were detected by conventional ultrasound and Virtual Touch tissue quantification (VTQ) and mammography. The sonographic characteristics of the breast lesion, such as the internal echo, shape, margin, color flow, and calcification so on, were also observed. The SWV in lesions and surrounding parenchyma were measured and the SWV ratio between the lesion and surrounding parenchyma was calculated. Pathological results were used as a diagnosis standard to compare the value of SWV ratio, VTQ, and mammography in the diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions. RESULTS The 151 breast lesions included 96 benign lesions and 55 malignant lesions. The cutoff value of VTQ in the diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions was 5.01 m/s, of SWV ratio was 2.43, and mammography was BI-RADS 4B. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the SWV ratio were 78.2%, 86.5%, 83.4%, and 0.83 respectively. While of SWV ratio with mammography was 86.4%, 89.4%, 88.3% and 0.87, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and AUC of SWV ratio and SWV ratio with mammography were statistically higher than those of mammography, no statistically higher than VTQ and VTQ with mammography. CONCLUSION The SWV ratio can improve the sensitivity without sacrificing diagnostic specificity in the process of breast cancer diagnostic, provide a better diagnostic performance, and avoid unnecessary biopsy or surgery.