Will Sonoelastography be the Virtual Biopsy of Future: A Study on Efficacy of Sonoelastography in Differentiation of Breast Lesions

Breast carcinoma is most common cancer worldwide. Awareness and precise diagnosis of breast lesions is of utmost significance. A novel modality that is subject of active research for clinical application is sonoelastography along with triple assessment. Tumors are usually stiffer and the relative stiffness can be mapped on elastography due to different tissue contrast. This property can help us in obtaining biopsy samples from suspicious target tissue and arriving at precise diagnosis thus making elastography the virtual biopsy of future. Out of 70 cases 50 were benign and 30 malignant on histopathology and there existed statistical significance between the elastography score and histopathology with 66.7 % of cases being benign on histopathology with elastography score of 1-3 and 40 % of cases being malignant on histopathology with elastography score of 4 to 5. After B-mode sonography analysis, the evaluation with the 5-point scoring method by sonoelastography might be a complementary method that increases specificity to differentiate between benign and malignant solid breast masses.