Affiliations: [a]
Department of Ultrasound in Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| [b]
Ultrasound Research and Educational institute, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| [c]
Department of Medical Ultrasound, Shanghai First People’s Hospital Baoshan Branch, Shanghai, China
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Rong Wu. E-mail: wurong7111@163.com.
Abstract: PURPOSE:To assess the elastographic features of triple-negative breast cancers and evaluate the diagnostic value of acoustic radiation force impulse imaging (ARFI) for the characterization of triple-negative breast cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS:This study analyzed data from 234 women with breast cancer. Patients were categorized into three groups; 1) triple-negative breast cancers (n = 48); 2) ER-positive tumors (n = 128) and 3) HER2-positive tumors (n = 58). Mean tumor stiffness was evaluated by virtual touch tissue imaging (VTI) and virtual touch tissue quantification (VTQ) and quantified as both qualitative scores (1–5) and shear wave velocity (SWV) (m/s). The relationship between mean SWV and tumor parameters, including tumor size, tumor type, histologic grade and lymph node status, were investigated using multiple linear regression. RESULTS:Triple-negative tumor were more likely to have a large invasive size (p = 0.002), high histological grade (p < 0.001), lymph node involvement (p = 0.022) and strong ki-67 expression (p < 0.001). The highest mean SWV value were recorded in triple-negative tumors (7.36 m/s±1.83), followed by HER2+ tumors (6.65 m/s±2.26) and ER+ tumors (6.60 m/s±2.35) (p = 0.122). Triple-negative tumors were also associated with increased stiffness than ER+ tumors and HER2+ tumors (p = 0.016), as measured by qualitative VTI scores. Tumor size was independently associated with mean SWV value on adjusted regression (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:Triple-negative breast cancer is associated with high stiffness scores and SWV in ARFI. The latter may be considered a useful complementary tool in evaluation of triple-negative breast cancer.
