Functional photoacoustic/ultrasound imaging for the assessment of breast intraductal lesions: preliminary clinical findings
Ming Wang, Lingyi Zhao, Yao Wei, Jianchu Li, Zhenhong Qi, Na Su, Chenyang Zhao, Rui Zhang, Tianhong Tang, Sirui Liu, Fang Yang, Lei Zhu, Xujin He, Changhui Li, Yuxin Jiang, Meng Yang
Abstract
This study aimed to identify features of breast intraductal lesions in photoacoustic/ultrasound (PA/US) imaging and compare PA/US with color Doppler flow/ultrasound (CDFI/US) in the evaluation of breast intraductal lesions. In the nine patients with 10 breast intraductal lesions and 8 patients with 8 benign lesions, total vessel scores evaluated from PA/US are significantly greater than those from CDFI/US (p=0.005). PA internal vessel scores and oxygen saturation (SO 2 ) score are significantly increased in breast intraductal lesions than in benign lesions (p=0.016, p=0.006). With a cutoff PA score (sum of PA internal vessel score and SO 2 score) of 2.5, we obtained a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 87.5% in differentiation of two groups. PA/US upgraded 40% of breast intraductal lesions, and downgraded 50% of benign lesions from the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System grading results based on CDFI/US. PA/US functional imaging has the potential in differentiating breast intraductal lesions.