Diagnostic potential of strain ratio measurement and a 5 point scoring method for detection of breast cancer: Chinese experience.

AIM: To evaluate the differential diagnostic potential of lesion stiffness assessed by the sonoelastographic strain index ratio (SR) and elastographic color scoring system (UE) for breast lesions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred and forty two breast masses (158 benign and 184 malignant) from 325 consecutive patients (mean age 44.2 years; range 16-81)who had been scheduled for a sonographically guided core biopsy were examined with grey scale sonography,doppler sonography and sonoelastography. Each lesion was classified with ACR's BI-RADS assessment category (2, 3 and 4A=Benign and; 4B, 4C, 5=Malignant) and the 5-point scoring system proposed by Itoh et al, with scoring 1-3=benign and 4-5=malignant. Strain and area ratios of each lesion were calculated within the same machine. Histological diagnosis was used as the reference standard. The area under the curve (AUC) and cut-off point were obtained by receiver operating curve and the cross table Fischer Test was carried out for assessing diagnostic value. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, accuracy and false-discovery rates were compared.

RESULTS: The mean strain ratios for benign and malignant lesions were 1.87 and 7.9 respectively. (P<0.0001). When a cutoff point of 3.54 was used, SR had a sensitivity of 94.6%, a specificity 94.3%, a PPV of 95.1%, an NPV of 93.7% and an accuracy of 94.4%. The AUC values were 0.90 for the 5 point scoring system (UE) and 0.96 for the strain index ratio. The overall diagnostic performance was SR method was better (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Strain ratio measurement could be another effective predictor in elastography imaging besides 5 the point scoring system for differential diagnosis of breast lesions.