Diagnostic potential of conventional ultrasonography combined with elastography in assessing the properties of axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer

This study was done to assess the potential of conventional ultrasound combined with ultrasound elastography (UE) for diagnosing the nature of lymph nodes in breast cancer. The study included 45 breast cancer patients who underwent axillary lymph node dissection. Routine ultrasound and UE were conducted one week before the surgery. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the factors that influence the nature of axillary lymph nodes. It also assessed whether patients with breast cancer needed axillary lymph node dissection. Forty-five breast cancer patients underwent axillary lymph node dissection and were diagnosed by surgical pathology as 20 metastatic and 25 reactive axillary lymph nodes. Statistically significant differences from univariate analysis were found between the metastatic and reactive lymph nodes in breast cancer patients regarding length to short axis ratio (L/S), cortical thickness, lymph node grading, blood flow type, and elasticity score. Breast cancer lymph node metastases were associated with the variables included by univariate analysis into the binary logistic regression model (p < 0.05). Logistic regression model: Logit (p) = −1.894 + 1.554X1 + 0.789X3 + 2.174X4. Plotting the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) of the regression model for diagnosing metastatic lymph nodes in breast cancer was: 0.880, 95% Confidence Interval (0.783–0.977), and the performance was good.

Breast cancer; Lymph nodes; Conventional ultrasound; Ultrasound elastography; Application value

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