Analysis of multimodal ultrasound imaging characteristics in patients with different molecular subtypes of breast cancer

Objective To analyze the multimodal ultrasound imaging characteristics in patients with different molecular subtypes of breast cancer.

Methods The medical records of 85 patients with breast cancer were retrospectively collected and classified into 12 cases of Luminal A, 35 cases of Luminal B, 21 cases of HER2, and 17 cases of triple-negative breast cancer based on immunohistochemical results. All patients underwent conventional ultrasound, color Doppler ultrasound, ultrasound elastography, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound. The relationship between multimodal ultrasound characteristics and breast cancer molecular subtypes and their diagnostic value were analyzed.

Results Conventional ultrasound and color Doppler ultrasound results showed statistically significant differences in the margin characteristics of breast cancer lesions among the four molecular subtypes(P < 0.05). Ultrasound elastography results revealed that the maximum elastic modulus (E_max) levels of HER2 and triple-negative subtypes were higher than those of Luminal A and Luminal B, respectively. The ratios of elastic modulus to normal tissue (E_ratio) for Luminal B, HER2, and triple-negative subtypes were higher than that of Luminal A, and the E_ratio level of Luminal Bwas lower than that of HER2 (P < 0.05). Contrast-enhanced ultrasound results showed statistically significant differences in enhancement levels, perfusion defects, and peak intensity (IMAX), time to peak (TTP), and augmentation time (AT) among the four molecular subtypes of breast cancer lesions (P < 0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that margin characteristics, E_max, E_min, E_mean, E_ratio, IMAX, TTP, and AT were independent influencing factors for breast cancer molecular subtypes (P < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the area under the curve and sensitivity of multimodal ultrasound imaging characteristics (combined indicators) for diagnosing breast cancer molecular subtypes were significantly greater than those of individual indicators (P < 0.05).

Conclusion There are differences in two-dimensional ultrasound, color Doppler ultrasound, ultrasound elastography, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound results among different molecularsubtypes of breast cancer. Multimodal ultrasound imaging characteristics have high diagnostic value for breast cancer molecular subtypes.