Value of mammography and combined grey scale ultrasound and ultrasound elastography in the differentiation of solid breast lesions

Aim of the work

The aim of this work was to evaluate the value of ultrasound elastography (UE) in differentiating benign versus malignant solid breast lesions discovered in mammography and compare it with grey scale ultrasound (US) and mammography.

Methods

From May 2011 to May 2013, 114 solid lesions from 100 consecutive patients discovered during mammography were categorized into benign or malignant by mammography and US and further analyzed with UE. The diagnostic results of the cases were compared with histopathologic findings.

Results

Of 114 lesions, 33 were histologically malignant, and 81 were benign. UE was the most specific (95.1%) of the 3 modalities. The accuracy (81.7%) of UE was equal to mammography and was higher than those of US (82.5% and 71.9%, respectively). A combination of UE and US had the best sensitivity (90.9%) and accuracy (93.8%).

Conclusions

Ultrasound elastography is useful for breast lesion characterization and is an easier and cheaper method and more specific than mammography or US alone, but it is operator dependent. When combined with US, detection accuracy can be greatly improved and the combination potentially could reduce unnecessary biopsy.