Strain elastography in detecting the nature of peripheral lung lesions: Unveiling the potential of innovative diagnosis

BACKGROUND AND AIM:Imaging techniques play a crucial role in assessing lung structure and function, particularly in diagnosing respiratory diseases.Among these, ultrasound strain elastography (SE) presents a promising method for evaluating peripherally located lung parenchymal lesions and distinguishing between benign and malignant pathologies.This study aims to explore the applicability and reliability of ultrasound elastography (USE) in tissue differentiation and to establish a strain ratio (SR) cutoff value for accurate classification. METHODS:A diagnostic accuracy study was conducted on a cohort of 138 patients aged 18 years and older to assess the efficacy of SR analysis in determining optimal cutoff points for differentiating between benign and malignant lesions.Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), positive predictive value (PPV), area under the curve (AUC), and accuracy were determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.RESULTS: Tissue stiffness was assessed using SE, revealing that malignant lesions exhibited a stiffer pattern compared to benign ones.An SR cutoff value of 1.75 was determined for diagnosing malignant peripheral lesions.The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV were 98.67%, 82.54%, 87.1%, and 98.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS:The use of SE can assist in classifying a peripheral parenchymal lung lesion as benign or malignant based on the SR.