Correlation of elastic characteristics of breast lesions with the expression of Smad2/3

BACKGROUND: To analyze the relationship between elastic characteristics and the expression of Smad2/3 in breast lesions. METHODS: Between April 2018 and October 2018, 135 lesions from 130 patients who underwent shear wave elastography before surgical excision or biopsy were included in the study. The shear wave elasticity features of the lesions, expression of Smad2/3 of the specimens, and their combined diagnostic efficacy was analyzed. RESULTS: Of the 135 lesions, 51 were malignant and 84 were benign. The elasticity ratio of lesions to peripheral parenchyma, maximum elasticity, mean elasticity, prevalent rate of “stiff rim sign”, and the expression level of Smad2/3 in the malignant pathological changes were obviously superior to those with benign pathological change (P<0.001). The Smad2/3 expression level had a positive correlation with the maximum, average elasticity, and the elastic ratio of lesions to peripheral parenchyma (r=0.657, 0.640, and 0.470, respectively, P<0.001). The expression of Smad2/3 in lesions with “stiff rim sign” was statistically higher than that in lesions without “stiff rim sign” (P<0.001). Moreover, the combination of Smad2/3 expression and “stiff rim sign” was shown to greatly raise the sensitivity (100%) and accuracy (94.56%) in the differential diagnosis of mammary gland disease. CONCLUSIONS: In light of the findings, maximum, mean elasticity, elasticity ratio of lesions to peripheral parenchyma, and “stiff rim sign” are correlated with the expression of Smad2/3. The combination of the expression of Smad2/3 and “stiff rim sign” might contribute to the diagnosis of breast carcinoma.