Search

The main objective of this study was to determine the predictive value of US characteristics for disease-free survival (DFS) in BC patients. We retrospectively analyzed the ultrasonic images and clinical data of BC patients who had previously undergone breast surgery at least 10 years before study enrollment and divided them into a case group and a control group according to the cutoff value of 120 months for DFS. Correlation analysis was performed to identify US characteristics as independent predictors for DFS by multivariable logistic regression and Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. A total of 374 patients were collected, including 174 patients in the case group with short-DFS and 200 patients in the control group with long-DFS. Three US characteristics (size on US, mass shape, mass growth orientation) and two clinical factors (axillary lymph node (ALN), molecular subtypes) were identified as independent predictors for DFS (p < 0.05). The ROC curve showed good performance of the multivariate linear regression model with the area under the curve being 0.777. The US characteristics of large size, irregular shape, and nonparallel orientation were significantly associated with short-DFS, which is a promising supplementary for clinicians to optimize clinical decisions and improve prognosis in BC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Whether the morphological changes in axillary lymph node (ALN) have occurred prior to metastasis remains unclear in breast cancer (BC) patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of BC for the morphology of non-metastasis ALN (N−) and, further, to improve the performance of ultrasound (US) examination for metastasis ALN (N+). Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, 653 patients with breast mass were enrolled and divided into normal group of 202 patients with benign breast tumor, N− group of 233 BC patients with negative ALN and N+ group of 218 BC patients with positive ALN. US features of ALN were evaluated and analyzed according to long (L) and short (S) diameter, the (L/S) axis ratio, cortical thickness, lymph node edge, replaced hilum and color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI). Results: ALN US features of short diameter, replaced hilum, cortical thickness and CDFI have significant statistical differences in N− group comparing with normal group and N+ group, respectively (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Therefore, BC can affect ALN and lead to US morphological changes whether lymph node metastasis is present, which reduces the sensitivity of axillary US. The combination of US and other examination methods should be applied to improve the diagnostic performance of N+.