In this Wednesday session, David Cosgrove and colleagues will present findings from their study that evaluated whether shear-wave elastography would improve B-mode ultrasound's performance.
The study included 1,000 women scheduled for breast ultrasound at 16 sites in the U.S. and Europe. Each woman received a B-mode ultrasound followed by a shear-wave elastography scan; histology information was available for 910 lesions, 34.4% (or 313) of which were malignant.
Cosgrove's team discovered almost perfect agreement between the regular ultrasound and shear-wave elastography scans in terms of lesion size and elasticity. The team found that adding shear-wave elastography homogeneity and mean elasticity value or lesion-to-fat ratio produced the best area-under-the-curve models. Shear-wave elastography increased the absolute specificity of the exam by at least 20% compared to ultrasound alone; sensitivity and negative predictive value decreased by less than 4%, the team found.
