It is more accurate than gray-scale ultrasound of the breast for pre-operative size assessment of invasive ductal breast carcinomas.
To our knowledge this is the first study to assess the accuracy of CEUS for pre-operative size assessment of invasive ductal carcinomas of the breast.
Our aim was to assess the feasibility and accuracy of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) of the breast with SonoVue microbubbles for pre-operative size measurement of invasive breast carcinomas.
The model has allowed us to provide almost exact virtual controls, matched for pre-operative size (T1-Gd) and D/ ρ, untreated and treated, for each patient, and to make accurate predictions of survival times following a broad range of surgical resections, as shown in Figure 6.
Exclusion criteria included: revision surgery, severe glenohumeral arthritis, fracture or osteonecrosis, tears with a pre-operative size larger than 16 cm (to increase uniformity between groups), partially repairable or irreparable tears and patients whose surgery fell within the first ten weeks after the surgeon switched to arthroscopic RCR in 2004.
The following data were collated: (i) pre-operative: myoma size, number, type and location and medical treatment, (ii) per-operative: operator, blood loss, surgical procedure and operative time, and (iii) post-operative: myoma weight and number, haemoglobin decrease, complications and length of hospital stay.
Eligible patients for pre-operative tumor size measurement with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) of the breast had no history of previous breast surgery.
This prospective feasibility study was designed to assess the accuracy of CEUS of the breast for pre-operative tumor size measurement in patients diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.
The patients had a wide range of pre-operative tear sizes, measuring up to 16 cm.
Pre-operative tear-sizes were similar between the two cohorts (p = 0.083) (Table I).
