Comparison of SWE (Shear Wave Elastography) and ADC (Apparent Diffusion Coefficient) Values in the Evaluation of Breast Lesions

INTRODUCTION: Values obtained by shear wave elastography (SWE) in breast lesions were compared with Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) values. This study aimed to demonstrate the usability of SWE, which is an easy-to-apply, cost-effective, quantitative data-providing and user-independent method, to distinguish benign and malignant lesions.
METHODS: In the retrospective study, SWE measurements were made by placing the smallest region of interest (ROI) obtained in 24 lesions, in the areas where the red color was most intense on the color map. The obtained values were compared with the ADC values determined using the ROI drawn freely from the entire lesion in ADC mapping and the round ROI drawn from the darkest area.
RESULTS: A high level of correlation (p=0.001, r=0.790) was detected between the kPa values measured in SWE and the minimum ADC values measured in diffusion, and a moderate correlation (p=0.001, r=0.670) was found between the ADC values measured from the entire lesion. A significant difference was detected between SWE, minimum ADC and mean ADC values of benign and malignant lesions (p=0.001).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: There is a high correlation between ADC values obtained in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and SWE values in breast lesions. SWE, which is easy to apply, cost-effective and provides quantitative data, can be used instead of ADC mapping to distinguish benign and malignant breast lesions.