Quantitative parameters of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in breast invasive ductal carcinoma: The correlation with pathological prognostic factors

Issue title: Developments in the application of high resolution ultrasound in clinical diagnostics

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ji, Chen-Li^{a; b} | Li, Xiao-Long^a | He, Ya-Ping^a | Li, Dan-Dan^a | Gu, Xin-Gang^b | Xu, Hui-Xiong^{a; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Medical Ultrasound, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Ultrasound Research and Education Institute, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China | [b] Department of Medical Ultrasound, Shanghai Putuo District Central Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Hui-Xiong Xu, MD, PhD, Department of Medical Ultrasound, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Ultrasound Research and Education Institute, Tongji University School of Medicine, No. 301, Yanchangzhong Road, Shanghai, 200072, China. Tel.: +86 21 66301031; E-mail: xuhuixiong@126.com.

Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the correlation between quantitative parameters on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and pathological prognostic factors in patients with breast invasive ductal carcinomas (IDCs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 102 patients with pathologically proven IDCs were retrospectively enrolled and all were preoperatively evaluated by CEUS. Quantitative analysis was conducted using the SonoLiver® software. On the parametric imaging, the data of rise time (RT), time to peak (TTP), mean transit time (mTT) and maximum intensity (IMAX) were recorded. Pathological prognostic factors, including histological grade, tumor diameter, lymph node status, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), C-erb-B2 and Ki-67 expression were evaluated. Correlation of enhancement parameters with pathological prognostic factors was analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance and operator consistency was evaluated. RESULTS: The RTs and TTPs for lower grade IDCs (grade I or II) and higher histological grade IDCs (grade III) were 9.3 s±3.9 vs. 11.4 s±5.4 (p = 0.016), 11.6 s±6.1 vs. 14.7 s±7.7 (p = 0.028), respectively. The RTs for positive-C-erbB-2 expression and negative-C-erbB-2 expression IDCs were 10.1 s±4.5 vs. 11.9 s±6.0 (p = 0.047). The IMAX showed statistical difference between IDCs with negative-ER and those with positive-ER (p = 0.003), as well as IDCs with negative-PR and those with positive-PR (p = 0.019). The ROC analysis showed that, for the differentiation ER expression, the cut-off point for IMAX was 648.8% with an Az value of 0.718 (95% CI: 0.599–0.836), and the sensitivity and specificity were 63.6% and 70.2% respectively. The intra-operator consistency of the RT, TTP, mTT and IMAX were excellent with an overall ICC of 0.893, 0.858, 0.984 and 0.800, respectively (all p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Quantitative analysis of CEUS may be a useful and objective method in predicting pathological prognostic factors in breast IDCs.

Keywords: Breast, invasive ductal cancer, contrast-enhanced ultrasound, quantitative analysis, conventional ultrasound, prognostic factor, immunohistochemical biomarker

DOI: 10.3233/CH-170251

Journal: Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 333-345, 2017