Objective:

To analyze the diagnostic efficacy of quantitative and qualitative parameters of shear wave elastography (SWE) in benign and malignant breast masses

and to predict the malignant degree of breast cancer by exploring the correlation between SWE and clinicopathological parameters of breast cancer.

Methods:

A total of 92 patients with pathologically confirmed breast masses (112 masses in total) were selected. The quantitative and qualitative parameters of SWE were obtained

and the clinicopathological data of the patients were recorded. The differences of SWE parameters between benign and malignant breast masses were compared

and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn. Z test was used to analyze the diagnostic efficacy of SWE parameters in differentiating benign and malignant breast masses

and Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between SWE parameters and clinicopathological parameters.

Results:

The maximum value (E

max

) and average value (E

mean

) of malignant breast mass were higher than those of benign breast mass ［E

max

: 72.46 (55.73

89.98) kPa vs 197.73 (104.62

266.77) kPa; E

mean

: 31.32 (20.43

54.09) kPa

vs

100.40 (75.36

119.40) kPa］. In SWE image classification

benign masses were mostly type Ⅰ

Ⅱ and Ⅲ

while malignant masses were mostly type Ⅳ and Ⅴ

the difference was statistically significant (

P

=0.000). The area under the curve (AUC) of E

max

E mean and SWE classification for differentiating malignant and benign masses were 0.918

0.892 and 0.906

respectively

but the difference was not statistically significant (

P

＞0.05). The combination of the three had the largest area under curve (AUC=0.957) and the highest diagnostic efficacy

compared with E

max

E mean and SWEclassification

and the difference was statistically significant (

P

＜0.05). All SWE parameters were positively correlated with tumor di

ameter

lymph node status and clinical stage of breast cancer (

P

＜0.05). In addition

SWE quantitative parameters were positively correlated with human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) expression and negatively correlated with tissue differentiation degree (

P

＜0.05).

Conclusion:

SWE parameters have certain value in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant breast masses

and are correlated with some clinicopathological features of breast cancer.