Characterization of Breast Lesions: Comparison between Three-dimensional Ultrasound and Automated Volume Breast Ultrasound

• Published in: Advanced ultrasound in diagnosis and therapy Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 204 - 211
• Main Authors: Wanru, Jia, MD, Jingwen, Zhang, MD, Yijie, Dong, MD, Ying, Zhu, MD, Xiaohong, Jia, MD, Weiwei, Zhan, MD, Jianqiao, Zhou, MD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editorial Office of Advanced Ultrasound in Diagnosis and Therapy 30-09-2021
• Subjects: breast neoplasms|ultrasonography|imaging|three-dimensional|automated volume scanner
• ISSN: 2576-2516
• DOI: 10.37015/AUDT.2021.210007

Objective: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic performance of three-dimensional ultrasound (3D-US) and automated breast volume scanner (ABVS) for the characterization of benign and malignant breast lesions. Methods: Ninety patients who underwent surgery and preoperative conventional ultrasound (US), 3D-US, and ABVS examinations were enrolled in this study. The image quality and adjacent structures of the lesions in the coronal plane were compared. The combination of US, 3D-US, and ABVS for retraction phenomenon of the lesion was compared and the diagnostic performance of each combination was analyzed. Results: ABVS displayed better image quality and adjacent structures than 3D-US (P < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.913, 0.842, and 0.871 for US, 3D-US, and ABVS, respectively. The AUC of the retraction phenomenon of the lesion was 0.732 and 0.810 for 3D-US and ABVS, respectively. When they were combined, US+ABVS showed the highest AUC of 0.924. No significant difference of diagnostic performances was found among conventional US, US+3D-US, and US+ABVS(P > 0.05). Conclusions: Compared with 3D-US, ABVS seems to be superior in showing the retraction phenomenon of breast lesions and in the characterization of breast lesions alone or in combination with conventional US. Although no significant difference was observed between them, both ABVS and 3D-US provided valuable information in the coronal plane and improved our confidence level in breast lesion characterization, especially when combined with the conventional US.