The role of sonoelastography for the diagnosis of breast cancer

C. Jumuga, G. Macota, I. Stoian

Abstract: Sonoelastography is a new imagistic method helpful in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Generally, breast cancer is harder than the adjacent normal tissue and this property constitutes the basis for elastography. The principle of sonoelastography is that the tissue compression produces strain within the tissue and that the strain is variable depending on tissue stiffness. Measuring the tissue strain we can estimate tissue hardness which may be useful for differentiating malignant from benign masses. The tissue elasticity distribution is converted in a image called elastogram, the scale ranged from red ( for components with greatest strain) to blue ( for those with no strain). For characterization of breast lesions we use an elasticity score on a five-point scale developed by Itoh and Ueno. The 1 to 3 cores are suggestive for benign lesions and 4 or, particularly , 5 scores indicate malignant tumors. Real-time sonoelastography can improve the sensivity and the specificity of conventional US, particularly for BI-RADS 3 and 4 lesions; as well can provide information which is difficult to achieve with conventional US.
Keywords: breast, cancer, sonoelastography