Reproducibility and diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography in evaluating breast solid mass

Shear wave elastography (SWE) was performed independently by two radiologists in 264 solid breast masses. The images were reviewed for color overlay pattern (COP) classification by the two radiologists, double blinded to any information. The interobserver agreement of the COP was almost perfect (κ=0.908) and high in E_max (ICC=0.89). The AUC value of the COP (0.954) was significantly higher than that of E_max (0.915) (p=0.002) but not significantly different from that of E_max combined with COP (0.957) (p=0.098). The SWE color overlay pattern and E_max of breast masses were highly reproducible. The COP had better diagnostic ability than E_max, suggesting that COP may be a more reliable parameter for solid breast mass evaluation.