Performance of Ultrasonic Shear Wave Elastography in Assessing Benign and Malignant Breast Lesions / 中国医学科学院学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To determine the best shear wave elastography (SWE) quantitative parameters including the maximum elasticity (Emax), mean elasticity(Emean), minimum elasticity, standard deviation and ratio of Emean (Eratio) in assessing benign and malignant breast lesions.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 302 breast lesions underwent conventional ultrasound and SWE. Each lesion was classified according to ultrasound Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS). The receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curves were used to determine the cut-off values of SWE quantitative parameters and to suggest breast lesions as benign or malignant. The sensitivity,specificity and the Youden index (sum of sensitivity and specificity minus 1) of SWE quantitative parameters were compared,and then the sensitivity,specificity and the Youden index of the combinations of each SWE parameters in assessing breast lesions were compared.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The sensitivity,specificity and the Youden index of the Emax were 0.87,0.97 and 0.84,which were higher than other SWE parameters (all P<0.01). The sensitivity, specificity and the Youden index of Emax combined with ultrasound BI-RADS were 0.86,0.97 and 0.83, which were higher than other combinations (all P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Compared with other parameters, Emax has the best performance in assessing breast lesions. It can be used as an important quantitative indicator for the evaluation of benign and malignant breast lesions.</p>

Impact of ideal health behaviors and health factors on the detection rate of the carotid plaques / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the impact of ideal health behaviors and health factors on the detection rate of the carotid plaques.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Subjects with previous stroke, TIA, myocardial infarction were excluded from the study. A total of 5852 employees (active and retired employers from Tangshan Kailuan company) aged 40 years and over were included through stratified random sampling. Information was obtained from the unified questionnaire, measurements of blood biochemistry and carotid artery ultrasonography.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The carotid artery plaque detection rates were 67.0%, 52.3%, 50.5%, 44.3%, 37.2%, 31.9%, 26.1% and 4.2% in the groups with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 components of ideal cardiovascular health behaviors and health factors, respectively. (2) The carotid artery plaques total burden score [TBS: M (Q1, Q3)] were 7(7,7), 7(5,7), 7(5,7), 5(3,5), 5(3,5), 5(3,5), 3(3,3), 3(3,3) in the groups with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 components of ideal cardiovascular health behaviors and health factors, respectively. (3) Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that 3, 4, 5 and greater than 5 components of ideal cardiovascular health behaviors and health factors were protective factors against carotid plaques compared to less than 2 components of ideal cardiovascular health behaviors and factors (all P < 0.05), the OR (95%CI) values were 0.78 (0.62 - 0.98), 0.53(0.62 - 0.98), 0.52 (0.39 - 0.71) and 0.40 (0.25 - 0.64), respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Increasing ideal cardiovascular health behaviors and factors are negatively linked with the detection rate and TBS of the carotid plaques.</p>