Relationship between elasticity and collagen fiber content in breast disease: a preliminary report

To investigate the differences in elasticity and collagen fiber content between malignant and benign breast lesions, and to study the relationship between shear wave elasticity and the content of collagen fiber in extracellular matrix (ECM).

Between May 2012 to May 2013, 106 patients with 116 breast lesions who were referred to our center for ultrasound-guided biopsy of a sonographically apparent breast lesion underwent shear wave elasticity examination. The specimen underwent Van Gieson (VG) dye and Image-Pro Plus 5.1 software was used to quantitatively analyze area of collagen fiber.

Malignant lesions exhibited significantly higher maximum elasticity, mean elasticity, and elasticity ratio between lesions and surrounding parenchyma (140.43±70.16 kPa, 63.11±33.68 kPa, 3.49±1.95) than benign lesions (54.64±48.53 kPa, 34.52±25.23 kPa, 2.25±1.48) (t=5.329, t=4.382, t=4.487, P<0.001). The content of collagen fiber of malignant lesions was significantly higher than that of benign lesions (t=8.437, p=0.000). There was a positive correlation between max elasticity and the content of fiber collagen (r=0.746).

The elasticity of breast lesions has a close correlation with the content of collagen fiber, which might have an important impact on tissue stiffness of breast lesions.