Shear wave elastography for the diagnosis of small (≤2 cm) breast lesions: added value and factors associated with...

We compared the diagnostic performance of B-mode ultrasound, shear wave elastography (SWE), and combined B-mode ultrasound and SWE in small breast lesions (≤ 2 cm), and evaluated the factors associated with false SWE results.

A total of 428 small breast lesions (≤ 2 cm) of 415 consecutive patients between August 2013 and February 2017 were included. The diagnostic performance of each set was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analysis. Histologic diagnosis was used as reference standard. Multivariate logistic regression analyses identified the factors associated with false SWE results.

Of 428 lesions, 142 (33.2%) were malignant and 286 (66.8%) were benign. The AUC of the combined modality was higher than that of B-mode ultrasound (0.792 vs 0.572, p < 0.001) and that of SWE was higher than that of B-mode ultrasound (0.718 vs 0.572, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that the smaller lesion size and in situ cancer were associated with false negative, and patient's age, high-risk lesion, shorter distance from the skin or chest wall, and deeper breast thickness were associated with false positive (all p < 0.05).

The addition of SWE to B-mode ultrasound could improve the diagnostic performance in ≤ 2 cm lesions. However, ultrasound lesion size, pathology, and lesion location are likely to affect the SWE value and result in false results.

Despite the diagnostic usefulness of SWE in small breast lesions (≤ 2 cm), ultrasound lesion size, pathology, and lesion location were associated with false results.