Shear-Wave Elastography-Guided Core Needle Biopsy for the Determination of Breast Cancer Molecular Subtype

To investigate whether shear-wave elastography (SWE) guidance during core-needle biopsy can improve diagnostic accuracy and accurate determination of the molecular subtypes of breast cancer.

This controlled, randomized prospective cohort study included 58 patients (mean age: 56.9 ± 16.2) who were referred for image-guided core-needle biopsy between May 2018 and April 2019 for lesions larger than 1 cm. In Group 1, 30 lesions were biopsied without SWE guidance and recorded as Biopsy A. In Group 2, 30 lesions were examined with SWE before biopsy, and then two different parts of the lesions were biopsied; biopsies from the relatively rigid areas of the lesions were recorded as Biopsy B, and biopsies from the less rigid areas of the lesions were recorded as Biopsy C. The histopathological and immunohistochemical results of biopsies were compared with the surgical results.

The sensitivity of Biopsy A, B and C were 96.7%, 100% and 100%, respectively. The benign-malignant concordance rates were 94.7%, 100%, and 90% and the diagnostic concordance rates were 89.5%, 100%, and 90% in Biopsies A, B, and C, respectively. When the 10% differences in the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and Ki67 rates were considered significant, the concordance rate of ER was highest in Biopsy B (77.8%; p = 0.040). The concordance rate of immunohistochemical subtyping was 100% in Biopsy B and 71.4% in Biopsies A and C (p = 0.086).

SWE-guided core-needle biopsy of breast lesions increased the sensitivity, diagnostic accuracy, and accuracy of immunohistochemical subtyping to 100%.