Clinical application of ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation for benign breast lesions: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Background: Benign breast lesions are the most common diseases in adult women, which have been treated with minimally invasive therapies in recent years. Little is known about the feasibility of Microwave ablation (MWA) for benign breast lesion treatment. The primary aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the safety and efficiency of MWA as a potential therapeutic option for benign breast lesions in a single-center cohort study. METHODS: Women with possibly benign breast lesions based on an ultrasound (US) assessment who were scheduled to undergo MWA between November 2014 to July 2018 were included in the study. The patients underwent conventional US to measure the size of the lesion, Doppler US to assess the vascularity of the lesion, elastography to evaluate the stiffness of the mass, core needle biopsy of suspicious lesions, contrast-enhanced US to help determine the treatment plan and eventually MWA of the lesion. Lesions were followed at one, three, six, twelve and eighteen months after treatment to with the same imaging modalities. RESULTS: A total of 314 women aged 17 to 69 years old (mean = 36.9 ± 9.9 years) with 725 benign breast lesions (mean of maximum diameter = 10.86 ± 5.40 mm) were included. The frequency of palpable mass, pain and nipple discharge significantly decreased after treatment. Complete ablation rate was 97.8%, immediately after ablation, which increased to 100% after supplementary ablation of the 15 cases with incomplete ablation. Blood flow classification and lesion's volume also showed a significant decrease, while both volume reduction ratio and disappearance rate significantly increased following treatment. The elasticity score of the lesions showed fluctuations across different follow-up intervals. None of the patients experienced major complications and the 1% who had mild symptoms were successfully treated. CONCLUSION: MWA treatment is shown to be safe and efficient and has the potential to be considered as an alternative first line treatment for benign breast lesions.

Assessment of Hemodynamic Alterations in Cerebral Veins in Patients With Intracerebral Hemorrhage Using Duplex Color-Coded Sonography.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the contributions of hemodynamic alterations in cerebral veins to the prognosis of patients with primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). METHODS: Duplex color-coded sonography was performed on 87 ICH patients between July 2016 and October 2017. The time-averaged peak velocity, the time-averaged mean velocity (TAMV), the blood flow volume (BFV) of bilateral internal jugular veins (IJVs) and vertebral veins (VVs), and the mean velocities of bilateral basal veins of Rosenthal, straight sinus, and bilateral transverse sinuses were calculated to understand the relationship of hemodynamic data with prognosis in patients with ICH. RESULTS: The study revealed that the time-averaged peak velocities, TAMVs and BFVs of both right IJV and VV in ICH patients with good clinical outcomes were higher than those of the left IJV and VV, whereas statistically significant differences were not found in the mean velocity of bilateral veins of Rosenthal. The perihematomal edema volume, time-averaged peak velocities, TAMVs, and BFVs of the bilateral IJVs and right VV and the TAMV of the left VV were associated with the prognosis of ICH patients in the univariate analysis. However, the TAMV of the right IJV and BFV of the left IJV were the independent factors that predicted prognosis in multivariate analysis. Partial correlation showed that there was a linear dependence between the differences in TAMV and BFV between bilateral IJVs. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of hemodynamic changes in cerebral veins in patients with ICH has an impact on prognosis.

Clinical Study of the Prediction of Malignancy in Thyroid Nodules: Modified Score versus 2017 American College of Radiology's Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System Ultrasound Lexicon.

The clinical importance of thyroid nodules rests with the need to exclude thyroid cancer. In the present study, we developed a modified Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) score using gray-scale ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and shear-wave elastography (SWE) images to predict malignancy of thyroid nodules and compared this modified score system with the subjective scoring criteria based on the Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS, 2017 edition). The results revealed that by using SWE and CEUS (enhanced pattern) to downgrade TI-RADS category 4 and 5 nodules, the malignancy rate for TI-RADS category 4 and 5 nodules increased from 47.6% with American College of Radiology (ACR) TI-RADS assessment alone to 49.4% with ACR TI-RADS combined with shear wave elastography (SWE) and CEUS (enhanced pattern). Likewise, by using the modified TI-RADS to adjust TI-RADS category 3 nodules, the malignancy rate for TI-RADS category 3 nodules increased from 13.9%-20.0%. The discriminating power for detection of malignancy of the variable score 2 (ACR TI-RADS + SWE + CEUS), with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.899 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 86.1%-93.6%), was higher than that of score 1 (ACR TI-RADS), with an AUC of 0.862 (95% CI: 81.9%-90.6%; p > 0.05). With a point 4.5 as the optimal cutoff value, a score of 1 predicted malignancy with an accuracy of 75.6%, sensitivity of 85.0% and specificity of 71.6%. However, with a point 5.5 as the optimal cutoff value, a score of 2 predicted malignancy with an accuracy of 84.9%, sensitivity of 81.0% and specificity of 86.6%. The modified TI-RADS based on ACR TI-RADS + SWE + CEUS (enhanced pattern) could contribute to a reduction in the number of biopsies performed on benign nodules and the implementation of consistent follow-up in clinical practice.

Ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation for benign breast lesions: evaluated by contrast-enhanced ultrasound combined with magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: Minimally invasive ablative techniques in the treatment of breast tumor has become popularly in recent years. METHODS: We analyzed gray-scale and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) features of 205 microwave ablated breast benign lesions from 182 consecutive patients, compared with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and histopathology findings. The follow-up was implemented at 3, 6 and 12 months after the ablation treatment. RESULTS: Before the MWA, the mean of largest diameter and volume of the lesions were 14.41±6.54 and 3,224±961 mm3, respectively. However, those of the lesions respectively were 8.48±6.30 and 2,116±732 mm3 one year after the treatment. The longest diameter and the volume of the ablative lesions were gradually decreased 3, 6 or 12 months after the MWA. 44 (/205, 21.5%) ablative lesions were disappeared one year after the MWA. One hundred and forty-two (/205, 69.3%) ablative lesions presented a hypoechoic halo surrounding it on gray-scale US after the MWA. The success rate of the MWA treatment in the benign breast lesion was 87.32% and 82.93% evaluated by CEUS and enhanced MRI, respectively. During the ablation, no patient had serious complications, such as hemorrhage, serious pain and fat necrosis, etc. CONCLUSIONS: Microwave ablation was a safe and efficient method in the treatment of the benign breast tumors. CEUS and enhanced MRI could accurately assess whether the MWA treatment is effective.

Color Doppler Ultrasound in Diagnosis and Assessment of Carotid Body Tumors: Comparison with Computed Tomography Angiography.

A carotid body tumor (CBT) is a rare, non-chromaffin paraganglioma, and its diagnosis mainly depends on imaging modalities. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of color Doppler ultrasound (CDU) in the diagnosis and assessment of CBT based on computed tomography (CT). We retrospectively reviewed the CDU and CT features of 49 consecutive CBTs and 23 schwannomas from 67 patients and compared these findings with surgical resection specimens. The mean size of CBT lesions on ultrasound scans and CT angiography (CTA) was 3.24 cm ± 0.82 cm (range, 1.6-5.2 cm) and 3.84 cm ± 1.08 cm (range, 1.8-6.8 cm), respectively, which had statistically significant difference (t = 9.815, p = 0.000). The vascularity of CBT lesions was richer than that of schwannoma lesions (p < 0.05). Intra-lesional vascularities feeding CBT mostly arose from the external carotid artery and had spectrum characteristics including low velocity and resistance. Peak systolic velocity (PSV) and resistance index (RI) of the vasa vasorum were 39.8 cm/s ± 19.8 cm/s and 0.54 ± 0.06, respectively. There was the correlation between CTA and CDU in identifying Shamblin type I CBT lesions, while CTA technique was superior for CDU, identifying Shamblin type II and III CBT lesions. Accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of CDU in diagnosing CBTs were 87.5% (63 of 72), 82.6% (19 of 23) and 89.8% (44 of 49), respectively. Both accuracy and sensitivity of CTA in diagnosing CBTs were 100%. CDU can be useful for assessment of Shamblin's type and intra-lesional blood flow of CBTs before its metastases, while CT imaging can reveal the relationship between lesions and adjacent arteries, as well as the involvement of the skull base. CDU combined with CT imaging can be used as an optimal detection modality for the assessment and management of CBT.

Diagnostic evaluation of ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast: ultrasonographic, mammographic and histopathologic correlations.

The aims of the study described here were to illustrate the spectrum of ultrasonographic features of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and to evaluate the ability of ultrasonography (US) to predict the grade and recurrence of DCIS on the basis of mammographic and histopathologic findings. We retrospectively evaluated the ultrasonographic features of 129 DCIS lesions from 127 consecutive women and compared these with their mammographic and histopathologic features. The mean size of DCISs on ultrasonography and mammography (MMG) was 3.67 ± 1.40 and 4.00 ± 1.74 cm, respectively, which do not differ statistically (p = 0.09). Despite the statistical difference in Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) classification on US and MMG (p = 0.000), the median BI-RADS classification is category 4c on both US and MMG (p = 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference in the distribution of microcalcification on MMG and US. Clusters <5 mm in greatest diameter are easily seen on MMG. At US, a scattered/linear distribution on MMG had a higher level of visibility than clustered distribution on MMG. The correlation between tumor size and DCIS with micro-invasion evaluated using US is higher than that obtained using MMG (p = 0.001 and 0.024, respectively). When US was used for the detection of DCIS, diagnostic accuracy was significantly associated with higher Van Nuys groups, the presence of micro-invasion and comedo carcinoma (p = 0.000, 0.022 and 0.011, respectively). However, mammographic diagnostic accuracy was found not to associate with higher Van Nuys groups, the presence of micro-invasion and comedo carcinoma (p = 0.054, 0.093 and 0.256, respectively). Ultrasonography may play an important role both in detecting DCIS and in evaluating its histopathologic features. Detection of DCIS using MMG alone may be suboptimal for patients with dense breasts, especially among Chinese women.

Gray-scale ultrasonography combined with elastography imaging for the evaluation of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: as a prognostic clinicopathology factor.

Ultrasonography (US) is the preferred imaging modality for papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC). The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of gray-scale ultrasound combined with elastography to predict extrathyroidal extension and cervical lymph node (LN) metastasis in patients with PTMC. We retrospectively evaluated gray-scale ultrasonic and elastographic results from 119 consecutive cases of PTMC with 138 nodules and correlated the histopathological findings. The results indicated that pathological extrathyroidal extension was significantly associated with T staging on US, extrathyroidal extension on US, bilaterality on US, boundary, strain ratio and hard malignancy as measured with the Rago score. Central LN metastasis on pathology was significantly associated with central LN metastasis on US, lateral LN metastasis on US, multifocality on US and bilaterality on US. Lateral LN metastasis on US was significantly associated with lateral LN metastasis on pathology. On multivariate analysis, T staging on US, extrathyroidal extension on US and hard malignancy as measured with the Rago score were significantly associated with pathological extrathyroidal extension. Lateral LN metastasis on US and bilaterality on US were independent factors in predicting central LN metastasis on pathology. Lateral LN metastasis on US was the predictive factor for lateral LN metastasis on pathology. US should be helpful in the diagnosis of PTMC and in the evaluation of possible PTMC recurrence on US in routine clinical practice.

Acoustic radiation force impulse elastography of breast imaging reporting and data system category 4 breast lesions.

INTRODUCTION: This population-based study on early breast cancer detection in women aimed to evaluate acoustic radiation force impulse elastography to differentiate BI-RADS (Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System) category 4 lesions. METHODS: Acoustic radiation force impulse was performed on 95 patients with 122 BI-RADS 4 breast lesions diagnosed by conventional ultrasound. We calculated the area ratio of lesions by using virtual touch tissue imaging and gray-scale imaging. By using virtual touch tissue quantification, we calculated the ratio of shear wave velocity (SWV) in lesions and in surrounding glandular tissue at the same depth (SWV ratio). RESULTS: The mean area ratio of benign lesions (1.09 ± 0.17) differed from that of the malignant lesions (1.96 ± 0.64; P < .001). The mean SWV ratio of benign lesions (2.44 ± 1.27) was lower than that of malignant lesions (5.74 ± 1.68; P < .001). The cutoff for the area and SWV ratios for malignancy were estimated to be 1.37 and 3.65, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Acoustic radiation force impulse provides quantitative elasticity measurements, which, combined with conventional ultrasound, can potentially improve the diagnostic accuracy of BI-RADS 4 breast lesions, and it is helpful to regulate the BI-RADS classification and avoid the need for unnecessary biopsies.