To investigate the application value of Youngs modulus of mass (
E
) and surrounding Youngs modulus of 2 mm shell (
S
) in sound touch elastography (STE) for breast BI-RADS 4 masses by retrospective study.
Methods:
A total of 210 Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) 4 breast masses treated in The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from January 2018 to December 2020 were selected as the training group and 68 BI-RADS 4 masses as the verification group. The hardness of the lesion area (
E
max
E
mean
E
min
E
sd
) and the glandular tissue around the lesion (
S
max
S
mean
S
min
S
sd
) were quantitatively evaluated. Taking the pathological results as the gold standard
the elastic parameters with the highest diagnostic performance in STE of BI-RADS 4 masses in the training group were selected
and their cutoff values were used to evaluate the performance of 68 BI-RADS 4 masses as the verification group
and then the performance of BI-RADS 4A
4B and 4C masses in this study group were evaluated respectively.
Results:
The diagnostic efficiency of the
S
max
modulus of 2 mm around the mass was the highest in STE imaging. The best cut-off value of
S
max
(91.73 kPa) was used to evaluate the performance of 68 cases of BI-RADS 4 masses. The area under curve (AUC) was 0.774
AUC 0.822 and Youden index 0.64 in BI-RADS 4A group; AUC 0.703 and Youden index 0.41 in BI-RADS 4B group
AUC 0.50 and Youden index 0.002 in BI-RADS 4C group
respectively.
Conclusion:
The value of
S
max
modulus in STE is an important auxiliary parameter in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast lesions
and it is more valuable in distinguishing BI-RADS 4A breast masses
which can
reduce the unnecessary biopsy of BI-RADS 4A masses.