Research Article
Calcification, Posterior Acoustic, and Blood Flow: Ultrasonic Characteristics of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Table 1
Characteristics of patients with TNBC versus non-TNBC.
| | TNBC patients (N = 162) lesion (184) | Non-TNBC patients (N = 174) lesion (196) | value |
| Age (years) | 50.58 ± 10.30 | 49.75 ± 9.12 | 0.43 |
| Age<40 yrs | 24 | 19 | |
| Size of lesions measured by US | | | | D1(mm) | 23 (15, 31) | 21 (15, 33) | 0.63 | D2 (mm) | 16 (11, 23) | 15 (11, 21) | 0.20 | D1/D2<1 | 25 (13.59%) | 29 (14.80%) | |
| Mass shape | | | 0.67 | Irregular | 152 (83.06%) | 160(81.63%) | | Oval | 28(15.30%) | 33(16.84%) | | Regular | 1 (0.55%) | 1(0.51%) | | Indistinct | 1 (0.55%) | 0 | | Flaky lesions | 1 (0.55%) | 0 | | Round | 0 | 2(1.02%) | |
| Mass margins | | | 0.061 | Well-defined | 37 (20.22%) | 28 (14.29%) | | Angular | 28 (15.30%) | 31 (15.82%) | | Crab-like | 21 (11.48%) | 43 (21.94%) | | Indistinct | 39 (21.31%) | 36 (18.37%) | | Microlobulated/lobulated | 35 (19.13%) | 42 (21.43%) | | Spiculated | 23 (12.57%) | 16 (8.16%) | |
| Echogenicity | | | <0.001 | Hypoechoic lesions | 129 (70.11%) | 183 (93.37%) | | Mix-hypoechoic lesions | 9(4.89%) | 3 (1.53%) | | Markedly-hypoechoic lesions | 44 (23.91%) | 8 (4.08%) | | Anechoic lesions | 2 (1.09%) | 1 (0.51%) | | Hyperechoic lesions | 0 | 1(0.51%) | |
| Calcifications | | | 0.03 | None | 109 (59.24%) | 90 (45.91%) | | Microcalcification | 64(34.78%) | 95 (48.47%) | | Macrocalcification | 10(5.43%) | 9 (4.59%) | | Microcalcification and macrocalcification | 1 (0.54%) | 2 (1.02%) | |
| Posterior features | | | <0.001 | No posterior acoustic feature | 136 (73.91%) | 128 (65.31%) | | Enhancement | 28 (15.22%) | 5 (2.55%) | | Attenuating | 20 (10.87%) | 63 (32.31%) | |
| The lesion’s effect on the surrounding tissue | | | 0.40 | No change | 159 (86.41%) | 167 (85.20%) | | Structural distortion | 12 (6.52%) | 9 (4.59%) | | Ductal dilatation | 1 (0.54%) | 2 (1.02%) | | Edema of skin or surrounding tissue | 4 (2.17%) | 12 (6.12%) | | Changes of cooper ligament | 2 (1.09%) | 1 (0.51%) | | Others | 6 (3.26%) | 5 (2.55%) | |
| Blood flow | | | <0.001 | Avascular | 40 (21.74%) | 2 (1.02%) | | Strip | 110 (59.78%) | 147 (75.00%) | | Spot | 24 (13.04%) | 47 (23.98%) | | Rich strip | 10 (5.43%) | 0 | | Resistance index (TNBC = 39, non -TNBC = 58) | 0.78 ± 0.41 | 0.77 ± 0.07 | 0.91 | Resistance index >0.6 | 35 | 58 | |
| Classification of TNM | | | | Tis/T1/T2/T3/T4 | 0/54/84/8/15 | 1/58/93/13/9 | | N0/N1/N2/N3 | 80/53/15/12/1 | 73/58/25/15/3 | | M0/M1 | 156/5 | 167/7 | |
| Tumor type | | | | Invasive ductal | 124 | 154 | | Ki67 (%) | 60 (40, 75) | 35 (20, 50) | <0.001 |
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A lesion was too large to measure. Some data on TNM were missing. |