Calcification, Posterior Acoustic, and Blood Flow: Ultrasonic Characteristics of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

Previous studies suggest that triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) may have unique imaging characteristics, however, studies focused on the imaging characteristics of TNBC are still limited. The aim of the present study is to analyze the ultrasonic characteristics of TNBC and to provide more reliable information on imaging diagnosis of TNBC. This retrospective study was performed including 162 TNBC patients with 184 TNBC lesions. 174 non-TNBC cases with 196 lesions were used as the control group. The median size of TNBC lesions and non-TNBC lesions were 23 mm × 16 mm and 21 mm × 15 mm, respectively. The shape of most breast cancer lesions was irregular. However, 15.30% (28/183) TNBC lesions and 16.84% (33/196) non-TNBC lesions were oval-shaped. Most breast cancer lesions (79.78% TNBC & 85.71% non-TNBC) were ill-defined. In comparison to non-TNBC, the distinctive ultrasonic characteristics of TNBC were summarized as three features: calcifications, posterior acoustic, and blood flow. Microcalcifications was less common in non-TNBC. The remarkable posterior acoustic characteristics on TNBC were no posterior acoustic features (136, 73.91%). Avascular pattern (21.74%) was also more common in TNBC. The other feature of TNBC was markedly hypoechoic lesions (23.91%). The above-mentioned differences between TNBC and non-TNBC were significant. 93.48% TBNC and 94.39% non–TNBC lesions were in BI-RADS-US category of 4A-5. The results indicate that TNBC has some distinctive ultrasound characteristics. Ultrasound is a useful adjunct in early detection of breast cancer. A combination of ultrasound with mammography is excellent for detecting breast cancer.