Blood flow on ultrasound imaging is a predictor of lump margin status in breast-conserving patients: a retrospective matching study

• Published in: European journal of medical research Vol. 28; no. 1; pp. 1 - 357
• Main Authors: Zhao, Rong, Zhang, Jianyong, Gao, Jinnan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 20.09.2023; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Biopsy; Blood flow; Breast cancer; Breast-conserving surgery; Confounding (Statistics); Diagnostic imaging; Lumpectomy; Magnetic resonance imaging; Mammography; Medical records; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Pathology; Predict; Surgeons; Surgery; Ultrasonic imaging; Ultrasonography; Ultrasound imaging; Variance analysis
• ISSN: 2047-783X; 0949-2321; 2047-783X
• DOI: 10.1186/s40001-023-01356-4

Purpose This study investigated the relationship between breast ultrasound features and lump margin status in breast-conserving patients. Methods A single-institution database and medical records system were searched to identify patients who had undergone breast-conserving surgery between 2015 and 2022. Patients were divided into case and control groups based on their postoperative margin status, and different matching methods [case-control matching (CCM) and propensity score matching (PSM)] were used to match the cases and controls at a ratio of 1:1. Results Before matching, patients with positive margins were more likely to have a tumor with increased blood flow (OR = 2.90, 95% CI 1.83-4.61, p < 0.001) and microcalcifications (OR = 2.22, 95% CI 1.44-3.42, p < 0.001). Among the 83 pairs of CCM subjects, patients with positive margins were prone to increased blood flow (p = 0.007) and crab sign (p = 0.040). In addition, there was a significant difference in blood flow (p = 0.030) among PSM subjects. After adjusting for the unbalanced factors, the same results were obtained. Conclusions Ultrasound blood flow significantly predicts the status of breast-conserving margins, but further studies are required to verify our findings. Keywords: Breast cancer, Blood flow, Breast-conserving surgery, Predict, Ultrasonography