Contrast ultrasound versus ultrasound elastography for diagnosis of breast lumps: A cross-sectional study

Chinese women have dense and small breasts. Therefore, in China, contrast ultrasound and ultrasound elastography are commonly used for detection of the breast lumps. Purpose of the study was to compare the sensitivity and accuracy of ultrasound elastography with contrast ultrasound for the diagnosis of the breast lumps. A total of 1000 women with a damp in breast mass, breast pain, nipple discharge, and/or breast skin discharge were subjected to contrast ultrasound and ultrasound elastography. Women were subjected to stereotactic vacuum-assisted biopsy under B-mode ultrasonography (n = 750). The ultrasound examinations were graded on a 5-points scale method. Data were subjected to the Chi-square Independence test at 99% of confidence level. Ultrasound elastography was detected the same numbers of benign lesions (648 vs 651, P = .88), malignant lesions (90 vs 99, P = .53), and false positive lesions (5 vs 0, P = .07) as those detected by biopsies. However, diagnostic parameters for contrast ultrasound had a significant difference with those detected by biopsies (P < .0001 for all). For contrast ultrasound and ultrasound elastography, the working area to detect deformation in the image of the breast lesions at least 1 time were 0% to 45% and 5% to 100%. Ultrasound elastography is the most reliable diagnostic method for detection of the breast lumps.