Differentiation of benign and metastatic axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer: additive value of shear wave elastography to B-mode ultrasound

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the additive value of shear wave elastography (SWE) for differentiating benign and metastatic axillary lymph nodes (LNs) in breast cancer. Materials and methods: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, and specificity of B-mode US, SWE, and combined modality were compared for 54 suspicious LNs. Results: After combining information from SWE, sensitivity was significantly higher for combined modality than for B-mode US alone (94.12% vs. 82.35%, p = 0.046) without a decrease in specificity. Conclusion: Combined B-mode US and SWE may improve detection of metastatic axillary LNs in patients with breast cancer.