Diagnostic accuracy of shear wave elastography in the evaluation of solid breast lesions and its correlation with histopathology

Abstract

Title: Diagnostic accuracy of shear wave elastography in evaluation of solid breast lesions & its correlation with histopathology. Background: To assess role of shear wave elastography in diagnosis of solid breast lesions with histopathological correlation. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted in 50 patients from January 2021 to June 2022 in Department of Radiodiagnosis, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Pondicherry. Results: Study group consisted of 50 individuals who presented to Department of Radiology for examination of breast for a solid tumor, ranging in age from 26 to 68 years. There were 27 malignant lesions among which 9 were Ductal Carcinoma insitu which is highest number seen in this study, 7 were Invasive ductal carcinoma, 6 were mucinous adenocarcinoma and 5 were Invasive lobular Carcinoma. Among 23 benign lesions, 47% were fibro adenomas followed by Mastitis (26%), Intraductal papilloma (17%), Adenosis (3%) and Intramammary lymph node. In this study sensitivity of shear wave elastography combined with USG was 95.24% & specificity was 97.37%. PPV & NPV values were 97.56% & 94.87% respectively. Mean elasticity value for predicting malignancy was 102.15 kpa & for benign was 41.12 kpa. Conclusion: A thorough grasp of the characteristics of each elastography technique enables accurate imaging and diagnosis, proving that elastography is a clinically valuable tool.