To Determine the Diagnostic Accuracy of Strain Ultrasound Elastography in Differentiation between Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions, Taking Histopathology as Gold Standard

Background: Advances in ultrasonography have led to the development of strain elastography, a novel imaging technique that assesses tissue stiffness, providing valuable diagnostic insights. Commercially available systems typically display tissue stiffness information as a color-coded map overlaid on real-time greyscale ultrasound images. Research has demonstrated the efficacy of strain elastography in detecting breast cancer. Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of strain ultrasound elastography in differentiation between benign and malignant breast lesions, taking histopathology as the gold standard. Study Design: Cross-sectional (validation) study. Settings: Radiology Department, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad Pakistan. Duration: 02-12-2018 to 01-06-2019. Methods: This study enrolled 132 patients, aged 20-60 years, with palpable breast lesions. Exclusion criteria included prior radiotherapy for breast cancer, pregnancy, and recurrent lumps. All patients underwent ultrasound elastography using a high-resolution linear array probe (7.5 MHz) followed by a biopsy. Histopathology results (benign or malignant) were compared with strain ultrasound elastography findings. Results: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of strain ultrasound elastography in differentiation between benign and malignant breast lesions, taking histopathology as the gold standard was 91.02%, 83.33%, 88.75%, 86.54% and 87.88% respectively. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that strain ultrasound elastography is a highly sensitive and accurate diagnostic tool for identifying malignant breast lesions.