Preliminary results of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) ultrasound imaging of breast lesions

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the appearance of breast lesions using acoustic radiation force impulse imaging (ARFI) and to correlate the ARFI values with the pathologic results. The area ratio (AR) and virtual touch tissue quantification (VTQ) values were analyzed in 86 patients (mean age 45.6 years, range 17-78 years) with 92 breast lesions (65 benign, 27 malignant; mean size 25.7 mm). The diagnostic performance of ultrasound (US) alone and US plus ARFI values were compared with respect to sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve (AUC) using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The mean AR of the benign lesions (1.08 ± 0.21) differed from that of the malignant lesions (1.99 ± 0.63; p < 0.0001), as did the mean VTQ values (3.25 ± 2.03 m/s vs. 8.22 ± 1.27 m/s; p < 0.0001). In conclusion, ARFI provides quantitative elasticity measurements, which may complement B-mode US and potentially improve the characterization of breast lesions.