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Updated: Jun 28, 2026
Magnetic Resonance Elastography Methodology for the Evaluation of Tissue Engineered Construct Growth
Published on: February 9, 2012
Diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography in discriminating malignant and benign breast lesions : Our
Karina Pesce1, Fernando Binder2, María José Chico3
1Breast Imaging and Interventional Radiology Department, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. drakarina.pesce@gmail.com.
Study Aims:
We sought to evaluate the diagnostic performance of quantitative elastography (shear wave elastography) and to establish the optimal cutoff value to differentiate malignant and benign breast lesions using QelaXtoTM software.
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective observational study of adult women with suspicious breast lesions (BIRADS 3, 4 or 5) who underwent programmed ultrasound-guided core biopsies. Breast lesions were assessed using quantitative elastography combined with B-mode ultrasound. Histopathology was used as reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were estimated, and a ROC curve analysis was conducted. Three elastography cutoff values were considered: 36, 50 and 80 kPa.
Results:
We included 143 women (mean age of 56 years) with a total of 145 breast lesions: 68 benign tumors (47.26%) and 77 malignancies (52.74%). Mean elasticity measurements of benign and malignant lesions were significantly different (24.6 kPa, SD 28.47, vs. 101.49 kPa, SD 47.38, [Formula: see text]). Using the 50 kPa cutoff, elastography showed a global sensitivity of 87% to discriminate malignant lesions (AUC = 0.897). Moreover, sensitivity was 90.7% when lesions were located 5-40 mm below the skin surface (optimal elastographic field of view). Our false positive rate was 17.65%, comprised mainly of fibroepithelial neoplasms, fibroadenomas and fibrosis.
Conclusions:
Quantitative elastography can differentiate malignant and benign breast lesions with acceptable to excellent performance. In our sample, the QelaXtoTM software showed a lower optimal cutoff than other ultrasound systems.
